CIHM 
Microfiche 
Series 
(Monographs) 


ICMH 

Collection  de 
microfiches 
(monographles) 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductior«  '  Institut  Canadian  de  microraproductions  historiques 


1996 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes  /  Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best  original 
copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this  copy  which 
may  be  bibliographically  unique,  which  may  alter  any  of 
the  images  in  the  reproduction,  or  which  may 
significantly  change  the  usual  method  of  filming  are 
checked  below. 


D 


D 
D 
D 


D 


Coloured  covers  / 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I   Covers  damaged  / 


Couverture  endommag6e 


□    Covers  restored  and/or  laminated  / 
Couverture  restauree  et/ou  pelliculee 

Cover  title  missing  /  Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

I I    Coloured  maps  /  Cartes  g6ographiques  en  couleur 

□    Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)  / 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

□    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations  / 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material  / 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 

Only  edition  available  / 
Seule  edition  disponible 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion  along 
interior  margin  /  La  reliure  serree  peut  causer  de 
I'ombre  ou  de  la  distorsion  le  long  de  la  marge 
int6rieure. 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restorations  may  appear 
within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these  have  been 
omitted  from  filming  /  Use  peut  que  certaines  pages 
blanches  ajout^es  lors  d'une  restauration 
apparaissent  dans  le  texte,  mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait 
possible,  ces  pages  n'ont  pas  ^t^  film^es. 


0 


L'Institut  a  microfilme  le  meilleur  exemplaire  qu'il  lui  a 
6t6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details  de  cet  exem- 
plaire qui  sent  peut-§tre  uniques  du  point  de  vje  bibli- 
ographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier  une  image  reproduite, 
ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une  modification  dans  la  m6tho- 
de  normale  de  filmage  sont  indiqu^s  ci-dessous. 

I I   Coloured  pages  /  Pages  de  couleur 

I I   Pages  damaged  /  Pages  endommagees 


D 


Pages  restored  and/or  laminated  / 
Pages  restaur6es  et/ou  pellicul6es 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed  / 
Pages  d^olor^es,  tachet^es  ou  piquees 

I      I    Pages  detached  /  Pages  d6tach6es 

|v/|    Showthrough  /  Transparence 

I    A  Quality  of  print  varies  / 


D 
D 


D 


Quality  in^gale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material  / 
Comprend  du  materiel  supplementaire 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata  slips, 
tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  totalement  ou 
partiellement  obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une 
pelure,  etc..  ont  6t6  Mm6es  ^  nouveau  de  fagon  k 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 

Opposing  pages  with  varying  colouration  or 
discolourations  are  filmed  twice  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  s'opposant  ayant  des 
colorations  variables  ou  des  decolorations  sont 
film§es  deux  fois  afin  d'obtenir  la  meilleure  image 
possible. 


Additional  comments  / 
Commentaires  suppl^mentaires: 


Various  pagings. 


This  Item  it  filmed  at  tha  reduction  ratio  chaclced  balow  / 

Ca  document  eat  film4  au  teux  de  rMuction  indlqu4  ci-detaoua. 


lOx 


14x 


18x 


12x 


16x 


20x 


22x 


26x 


30x 


24x 


2ax 


: 


32x 


Th«  copy  film«d  h«r«  h«»  b««n  raproducad  thank* 
to  th«  ganarosity  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


Tha  imagai  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bait  quality 
poMibIa  conaidaring  tha  condition  and  lagibility 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  apacificationa. 


Original  copias  in  printad  papar  covar«  ara  fllmad 
beginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  andmg  on 
tha  last  paga  with  a  printad  or  illu.tr.tad  ••"»>'••- 
lion,  or  tha  bach  covar  whan  appropnata.  All 
othar  original  copiaa  ara  filmad  bagmning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  lllustratad  impras- 
sion.  and  anding  on  tha  last  paga  with  a  printad 
or  lllustratad  imprassion. 


Tha  last  racordad  frama  on  aach  microficha 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  — ^  ""••"'"8  ^'SS..; 
TINUEO").  or  tha  symbol  ▼  (maanmg    ENO  i, 
whichavar  appliaa. 

Maps.  pl«to».  charts,  ate,  may  ba  fllmad  at 
diffarant  raduction  ratios.  Thosa  too  larga  to  ba 
antiraly  includad  in  ona  axposura  ara  filrnad 
beginning  in  tha  uppar  laft  hand  cornar,  laft  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  framas  as 
raquirad.  Tha  following  diagrams  illustrata  tha 
mathod: 


L'sxemplair*  film*  fut  raproduit  grac*^  la 
gAnArosit*  da: 

Bibliotheque  nationale  du  Canada 


] 


Las  imagas  suivantas  ont  *t*  raproduitas  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nanat*  da  I'axamplaira  film*,  at  an 
confornoiM  avac  laa  conditions  du  contrat  da 
filmaga. 

Las  axamplairos  originaux  dont  la  eouvartura  an 
papiar  act  imprint**  sont  filmas  an  commancant 
par  la  pramiar  plat  at  an  tarminant  toit  par  la 
darni*ra  paga  qui  compona  una  amprainta 
d'imprassion  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  la  sacond 
plat,  salon  la  eas.  Tous  las  autras  axamplairas 
originaux  sont  film*s  an  commandant  par  la 
prami*ra  paga  qui  compona  una  amprainta 
d'imprassion  ou  d'illustration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darniAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  talla 
amprainta. 

Un  das  symbolas  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
darni*ra  imaga  da  chaqua  microficha.  salon  la 
caa:  la  symbols  -♦  signifia  "A  SUIVRE  ".  la 
symbola  ▼  signifia  "FIN". 

Las  cartas,  planchas.  tablaaux.  ate,  pauwant  atre 
film4s  *  das  tau«  da  reduction  diff*rants. 
Lorsqua  la  documant  ast  trop  grand  pour  *tra 
raproduit  an  un  saul  clich*.  11  ast  film*  *  partir 
da  I'angia  sup*riaur  gaucha.  da  gauche  *  droite. 
at  da  haut  an  bas.  an  pranant  la  nombra 
d'imagas  nicassaira.  Las  diagrammas  suivants 
iilustrant  la  m*thoda. 


MICROCOPY   RESOLUTION   TEST   CHART 

(ANSI  ond  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


1.0 


I.I 


116       IM 


■  63 


»£ 


1*0 


12.2 
2.0 

1.8 


^  x^PPLIED  IfVMGE     Inc 

^^  1653  Eost   Main   Street 

r'-S  Rochester,   New  York        U609       USA 

'^S  (716)   482  -  030r  -  Phone 

!■=  (716)   288  -  59f 


HOME   UNIVERSrTY   LIBRARY 
OF    MODERN    KNOWLEDGE 


/ 


T 


A-.  / 


6 


CANADA 

BY   A.   G.    BRADLEY 


London 
WILLIAMS  &  NORGATE 

HENRY  HOLT  &  Co..  New  York 
Canada;  WM.  BRIGGS»  Toronto 
India  :  R.  &  t.  WASHBOURNE,  Ltd. 


►»  «»\   ^ 


HOME 


UNIVERSITY 
LIBRARY 

OF 

MODERN  KNOWLEDGE 


Editors : 

HERBERT  nSHER,  MJV,  F.B.A. 

PROF.   GILBERT   MURRAY,  D.LITT, 
LL.D,   F.B.A. 

FROF.  J.  ARTHUR  THOMSON,  M.A. 

PROF.   WTl.LIAM   T.   BREWSTER,  MJL 
(Columbia  UmvKitsiTy,  U.S.A.) 


f  n 


V  V 


r^ 


NEW  YORK 

HENRY  HOLT  AND  COMPANY 


I 


I 


« 


B  7 


163792 


PRINTED    BY 

THI    LONDON    AND    NORWICH    PRESS,    LIUITED 

lONDON  AMD   NORWICH 


CONTliNTS 


OBAPTBt 

I    Geooraphical 

*  •  •  « 

II    The  Conqukst  of  Canada 

III  Foi.«i.xxo  OF  British  Canada  BY  Amebicax 

Loyalists 



IV  THKoromiEvoLUTiox  to  Federation 

V    Federation    . 

*        *        •        • 

VI    The  French  IN  Canada  . 
VII    The  AIaritime  Provinces 

•  •  • 

Vm    The  Prairie  Provinces  and  the  Rise  of 

THL-  North- Wiu?T 
IX    British  Colcmbu 

*  •  • 

X    The  Dominion  of  To-day 

BlBUOORAPHY 

•     •     . 

Indbx  . 


7 


00 
97 
120 
132 
160 

190 

213 

228 

251 

253 


CANADA 


CILiPTER    I 

GEOGRAPHICAL 

Geography  plays  such  an  influential  part 
m  the  past  story  a  1  the  present  condition 
of  that  long  string  of  British  North  American 

Amiricr  L^""'  '*'*'"'""«  '«''*  a"o- S 
cZ^aT\T7    eompnse    the    Dominion    of 
of   tt^.h    **/'*'"*   preliminary   indication 
of   Its   character   seems   indispensable  here 
The   shape   of  the   Dominion  is,   in   short 

wf^T-S  """nWes-among  Sio^at 
least  which  count  for  much  in  our  mS-  ■ 
cvJization.  It  has  affected  its  history^  ^ 
past  so  vitally  and  influences  all  its  polUical 
commercial  and  social  considerations  so 
strongly  to-day,  that  a  general  idea  of  its 
physical    characteristics    seems    vital    to   a 

e'So"f  "''^"'""^  °'  '*^  P-*  --l  P--t 

Inhabited  Australia  is  a  fringe  round  or 

partly    round    an    island    Continent     with 

an  uninhabitable  heart  of  drougKd  h^at^ 

7 


8 


CANADA 


Inhabited  Canada,  on  the  contrary,  is  a  thin 
belt  across  a  continent,  confronting  every- 
where a  northern  wilderness  where  winter 
cold,  not  torrid  drought,  is  the  enemy. 

If  you  regard  the  mere  surface  of  the  map 
this  is  not  so  apparent ;  you  will  see  a  straight 
line,  with  curves  only  at  one  or  two  points, 
running  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
a  distance  of  nearly  three  thousand  miles, 
signifying  the  boundary  between  Canada  and 
the  United  States.  To  the  north'vard  of  this 
there  appears  upon  the  map  of  British  North 
America  an  illimitable  country  fading  away 
into  the  Arctic  regions.  But  the  point  to  be 
noted  is  that  nearly  the  whole  population  of 
present-day  Canada  clusters  along  that  south- 
em  boundary  line  within  a  belt  of  country 
from  one  to  two  hundred  miles  in  width. 
There  are  sections  of  this  line  or  base  too 
rugged  for  serious  occupation  now  or  ever, 
either  upon  or  to  the  north  of  it.  There  are 
some  containing  an  old  and  well-established 
civilization  not  nearly  a  hundred  miles  wide, 
with  no  prospect  of  extending  itself  north- 
ward from  natural  obstacles.  Lastly,  there 
are  other  very  considerable  sections  of  this 
long  line  that  have  no  limit  to  their  north- 
ward expansion  but  a  vaguely  conjectured 
one,  not  yet  proven,  where  a  no  longer 
endurable  winter  or  a  too  short  summer  will 
call  an  absolute  halt.     Of  the  seven  million 


GEOGRAPHICAL 


9 

souls  or  more  now  residing  in  the  Dominion 

'"^.J^'^^T  V"^  ^  ^^^^  ^^«  probably  ifvin ' 
within  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  that  three 
thousand  mile  long  boundary  line,  and  this  is 
what  makes  the  Dominion  unlike  any  other 
country  m  the  world.     Over  the  eastern  half 
speaking  approximately,  the  spread  of  popula- 
tion to  the  northward  of  this  narrow  beltvvill 
not  be  sufficient  within  measurable  time    if 
ever,  to  alter  seriously  the  present  conditions. 
*  or   the   wilderness   is  generally  rough  and 
sterile,  and  the  climate  of  necessity  increasingly 
severe.     On  most  of  the  western  half,  the  first 
conditions    do   not    exist,    and    the    belt    is 
gradually    expanding    northward,    and    will 
continue  to  do  so  till  the  severity  of  climate 
alone  makes  further  advance  impossible. 

Leaving   population   and  its   possibilities, 
however,  for  the  present,  and  regarding  onl^ 
the  physical   surface  of    the  Dominion,   the 
reader   may   usefully  picture   it   as    divided 
mto  three  grand  and  distinct  sections  proceed- 
ing from  east  to  west.     First,  comes  the  region 
of  unbroken  primaeval  forest,  out  of  which  the 
axe  has  hacked  every  acre  which  is  inhabited. 
This  extends  from  the  Atlantic  to  beyond 
l.ake  Superior,  the  most  westerly  of  the  great 
lakes,    or    in   other    words,    about   half-way 
across  the  continent.     Upon  this  eastern  half 
and  m  a  strip  along  the  bottom  of  it,  about 
three-quarters  of  the  population  of  Canada 


It 


10 


CANADA 


at  present  reside,  a  proportion  which  will 
steadily  decrease  in  relation  to  the  whole. 
Next,  moving  westward,  comes  the  open 
prairie  country,  which  rolls  away  for  nearly 
eight  hundred  miles  to  the  foot  of  the  stupen- 
dous barrier  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
Lastly  is  that  third  section  which  consists 
of  the  great  ranges  and  still  mainly  mountain- 
ous stretches  down  to  the  Pacific,  and  may 
be  defined  with  sufficient  accuracy  as  British 
Columbia. 

The  greatest  in  area  of  these  three — ^the 
eastern  section — is  represented  by  the  old 
provinces  of  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick, 
little  Prince  Edward  Island,  Quebec,  and 
Ontario,  together  with  the  virtually  un- 
peopled and  but  partially  explored  wilds  of 
Labrador  and  the  Hudson's  Bay,  which,  as 
seats  of  future  population,  may  be  dismissed 
from  the  mind.  Nearly  the  whole  of  this  vast 
surface  is  undulating  or  broken,  though 
seldom  rising  to  the  height  of  actual  moun- 
tains. The  Laurentian  Range  in  the  province 
of  Quebec,  however,  reaches  the  altitude  of 
from  three  to  four  thousand  feet,  while  the 
Appalachian  Chain  that  runs  up  through  all 
the  Atlantic  provinces  of  the  United  States 
culminates  in  New  Brunswick  in  heights  of 
rather  less  distinction.  The  southern  and 
more  accessible  portions  of  these  provinces 
have  now  this  long  time  been  converted  into 


GEOGRAPHICAL  ii 

flourishing  and  populous  regions.  But  by  far 
the  greater  portion  of  the  surface  of  the 
eastern  half  of  the  Dominion,  some  fifteen 
hundred  miles  long,  is  still  wild  woodland  or 
scrub,  which  for  the  most  part  covers  a  rugged, 
rocky  surface,  threaded  by  waterways  and 
crowded  with  lakes.  Nova  Scotia  and  New 
Brunswick,  particularly  the  former — being 
limited  in  area — ^have  a  smaller  proportion  of 
wilderness,  and  this,  for  geographical  reasons, 
is  not  a  great  northern  hinterland  like  the 
other,  but  merely  the  rejected  rugged  or 
inferior  portions  of  provinces  whose  civiliza- 
tion is  scattered  around  and  through  them 
on  the  desirable  lands. 

Quebec  and  Ontario,  as  displayed  upon  a 
map  painted  to  indicate  physical  conditions, 
would  exhibit  a  vast  shaggy  wilderness  with 
a  narrow  fringe  of  prosperous  civilization 
strung  along  its  southern  boundary,  save  at 
the  eastern  and  western  extremities,  which 
are  in  the  grip— like  most  of  the  interior— 
of  a  rugged  and  inhospitable  wilderness. 
The  expansion  of  this  narrow  belt,  which 
contains  all  the  civilization  and  nearly  aU 
the  settled  population  of  Quebec  and  Ontario, 
can  never  be  sufficient  to  alter  appreciably 
this  general  bird's-eye  view  of  the  country 
sketched  on  a  broad  canvas,  and  avoiding 
all  those  reservations  which  only  tend  to 
confusion  and   do  not  much  matter.     The 


12 


CANADA 


ili 


^'!i 


h 


inducements  to  extending  serious  settlement 
northward   in   the   face    of    difficulties   are 
conspicuously  wanting,  above  all,  in  a  country 
whose  surplus  people  can  migrate  west  with 
such  ease  and  still  remain  in  Canada.     Over 
this  immense  hinterland  from  the  mouth  of  the 
St.  LawTence  to  beyond  the  head  of  Lake 
Superior,  stretching  northward  to  the  Hudson's 
Bay,  and  north  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  into 
space,  are  sprinkled  thousands  of  clear  lakes 
of  every  size  and  innumerable  clear  rivers  and 
streams   running   over   rocky   beds.     Every- 
where is  forest  or  scrub,   pine  of  different 
varieties  preponderating,   save  where  forest 
fires  have  left  miles  of  bare  charred  poles. 
Where  there  is  sufficient  soil  the  woods  are 
thick;    where  the  rocks  are  on  the  surface, 
the  trees  are  poor  and  straggling.     Wherever 
lakes,  streams,  and  woods  are  in  combination 
there  must  be  beauties.     But  the  monotony 
over  hundreds  of  miles,  added  to  a  certain  air 
of  hardness  and  desolation,  makes  a  type  of 
scenery  that  cannot  be  realised  by  anyone 
used  only  to  European  standards  and  variety. 
The  wild  scenery  of  Canada  is,  in  detail,  very 
often  beautiful.     But  its  qualities  are  very 
similar  all  the  way  from    Nova    Scotia    to 
Winnipeg,  and  the  great  and  extraordinary 
change  on  to  the  prairies.      It  is  at  its  best 
where  the  woods  fringing  its  countless  lakes 
and   waterways  are   of  hardwood,   such  as 


GEOGRAPHICAL 


18 


beech,  maple,  elm,  and  the  like.  The  old 
settled  parts  of  the  country  are  generally 
pleasing  as  rural  landscape,  but  there,  again, 
character  tends  to  uniformity,  whether  in 
Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  or  Ontario.  In 
French  Canada  the  difference  of  style  of  rural 
architecture  and  methods  of  early  settlement 
from  those  of  the  English  provinces  gives 
some  variety,  and  provides  a  pleasing  contrast. 
The  change  on  to  the  prairies  is  prodigious. 
You  seem  to  have  emerged  into  another 
world.  Hitherto  the  forest  has  been  domin- 
ant. Not  the  forest  of  our  English  associations, 
where  you  can  stroll  easily  through  bracken 
and  over  grassy  glades,  between  graceful, 
shapely  trees,  or  through  easily  threaded 
undergrowth,  b-:t  woods  of  dense,  tangled 
growth  springing  out  of  the  rotting  wreckage 
of  fallen  trees,  or  scattered  more  thinly  over 
the  rough  surface  of  barren  rocks.  The  hills 
and  even  the  mountains,  where  such  they  be, 
are  covered  to  their  summits  with  timber  of 
some  kind.  You  move  for  ever  as  if  with  a 
hood  over  your  head.  The  only  smooth  and 
open  places  are  the  surface  of  the  many  lakes 
and  rivers,  while  through  all  the  summer 
months  mosquitoes  and  other  pestilent  insects 
hold  unchecked  sway.  Even  the  cleared, 
civilized,  and  populous  areas  show  at  once  that 
they  have  been  cut  in  no  very  remote  times 
out  of  the  all-pervading  primaeval   forest — 


14 


CANADA 


j|, 
ii 


1 1 


heavy  and  thick  in  this  case,  for  the  land  was 
fertile  m  varying  degree,  and  it  was  an  arduous 
task.     In  the  farming  countries,  whether  of 
Nova  Scotia  or  Ontario,  pleasant  and  home- 
like though  they  now  look,  the  mark  of  a  once 
forest  country  is  all  over  them.     The  woods 
that  have  been  left  on  practically  every  farm 
for  utility  purposes  are  obviously  patches  of 
the  original  clothing  of  the  land,  though  often 
tamed  by  thinning  into  more  gracious-looking 
groves.     The  close  fencing,    for   farms   and 
consequently    fields    are    everywhere    small, 
is  mainly  of  timber  rails.     In  many  placed 
the  stumps  of  the  forest  trees  may  even  vet 
be  seen,  while  along  the  fringes  of  the  old 
settled  countries  the  process  of  hacking  farms 

profitable  significance  it  had  before  the  West 
was  opened-still  proceeds  sufficiently  to 
provide  an  Ulustration,  with  its  stump- 
strewn  clearings,  of  how  Eastern  Canada  was 
made.  There  are  no  open  commons  of 
heather  or  grass,   or   wide  fenceless  tracts. 

other  old  countries.  The  whole  -nhabited 
rural  country  of  every  province  of  Eastern 
Canada  consists  either  of  forest  or  of  railed- 
in  fields  under  cultivation.  It  Mill  sive 
the  reader  a  good  idea  of  this  situation 
when  it  is  remarked  that  for  the  manoeuvring 
of  cavalry,  even  on  a  small  scale,  there  is  n^ 


aasa-  tx.' 


GEOGRAPHICAL 


15 


a  single  natural  arena  between  the  prairies 
and  the  Atlantic. 

Winnipeg  stands  virtually  at  the  g.ite  of 
the  prairie  country,  the  central  one  of  those 
three  grand  divisions  which  Nature  has  fixed 
on  the  Dominion.  The  fifteen  hundred  miles 
of  forest  wilderness  (to  use  approximate 
figures)  press  so  near  to  the  prairie  capital 
and  the  Red  River,  that  the  brief  interval 
of  compromise  need  not  trouble  us  on  so  large 
a  canvas.  To  the  bred-and-born  Canadian 
of  the  old  provinces,  this  stepping  out  on  to 
the  prairies  is  literally  like  entering  a  new 
world.  Much  more  so,  indeed,  than  to  the 
Briton  from  home,  who  is  accustomed  in  our 
southern  downs  and  northern  moorlands  to 
open  sweeps  f  r  so  far,  at  any  rate,  as  the 
eye  can  travel,  which  is  all  that  really  matters. 
To  the  European  the  prairies  do  not  impart 
an  utterly  new,  and  not  always  a  pleasant, 
sensation,  as  they  do  in  the  case  of  the  Eastern 
Canadian,  who  has  lived  always  in  an  arti- 
ficially created  landscape,  woods  and  timber 
fences  all  about  him  and  the  boundJess  forest 
always  within  conscious  reach  upon  one 
flanl.,  and  wide,  open  seas  either  of  fresh  or 
salt  water  upon  the  other.  This  prairie 
country,  generally  known  as  the  "  North- 
West,"  is  neither  for  the  most  part  flat,  nor 
yet  is  it  devoid  of  woodland.  It  is  not  often 
the  monotonous  billiard  table  of  the  old-time 


\m 


16 


CANADA 


'H 


1 


tall  story,  over  which  you  could  run  a  straight 
furrow  with  a  plough  from  Winnipeg  to  the 
Kocky  Mountains,  nor  yet  the  treeless  waste 
that  It  IS  often  supposed  to  be.  There  are 
stretches  of  flat  country,  to  be  sure  but  a  great 
part  of  the  prairie  is  undulating  and  often 
hilly,  like  the  down  lanc^  of  Wiltshire  and 
Hampshire. 

This  prairie  division  of  Canada  includes  the 
original  province  of  Manitoba,  founded  forty 
years  ago,  and  the  newer  provinces  of    Sas- 
katche^van  and  Alberta,  the  last  being  nearest 
to  the  Rocky  Mountains.     Though  compari- 
sons   between    old   and   new   countries    are 
generally  not  happy  ones,  the  rolling  prairie, 
with  its  short,  natural  grass,  interspersed  with 
large  breadths  of  wheat  and  oats,  or  brown 
faJlows  and  clumps  of  trees,  is  really  not  at 
aJl  unlike  the  down  countries  of  England, 
ihere  are  low  ranges  of  hills,  too.  here  and 
there,  sometimes  smooth  like  downs,  but  often 
lightly  covered  with  wood,  though  the  trees 
are  generally  of  a  different  kind  from  those  in 
the  forest  country.    Indeed,  almost  everything 
here  is  the  very  reverse  of  the  eastern  country 
Ihe  woodland  is  in  mere  patches,  and  of  small 
stature,  upon  an  otherwise  open  landscape,  or 
It  grips  the  sides  and  summits  of  low  hills 
as  already  mentioned,  -nd  nearly  always  grows 
thick   a  ong   the   water-courses.     Here   toe 
practically  the  whole  country  is  of  a  smooth 


GEOGRAPHICAL 


IT 


surface  without  rocks  or  stones.     The  streams 
and  rivers  are  fairly  numerous,  but  they  have 
cut  deep  hollows  through  the  down-like  prairie 
country,  and  slide  smoothly  along  with  muddv 
current   between  soft,   woody  banks.     Thei^ 
are  plenty  of  lakes,  and  some  very  large  ones, 
but  small  meres  and  pools  in  the  hollows  of 
the    prairie  are  a  characteristic    feature    of 
much    of    the  country.     Some    regions    are 
flatter,  others  hillier ;   in  some  there  is  Uiore, 
in  others  less  wood.     Bnt  this  tvpe  of  countrj! 
and    similarity    of    landscape '  stretches    for 
seven  to  eight  hundred  miles  till  the  hu^^e 
barrier  of  the  Rockies  looms  in  sight,  and°a 
continuous  chain  of  rugged  and  jagged  peaks 
rears  up  against  the  horizon.     Towns  and 
villag'js    are  strung  at  intervals  along    the 
railroads,  and  homesteads  are  now  scattered 
over  most  of  the  country  at  the  rate  of  about 
two  or  three  to  the  square  mile,  whereas  in 
Eastern   Canada,    the   farms   being   smaller, 
there  would  be  roughly  about  five  to  the  mUe. 
Not  only  east  and  west,  but  from  south  (the 
American  border  line)  to  north,  so  far  as  we 
need  take  it  here  into  account,  this  t3^re  of 
country  extends,  with  no  great  variations, 
and  its  farms  always  pushing  on  to  the  still 
unpeopled   territories.     The   enclosures   here 
are  larger  than  in  Eastern  Canada,  and  are 
of  wire  fencing,   which  scarcely  detracts  at 
all  from  the  wide-open  look  of  the  landscape 


18 


CANADA 


iil 


^ 


Districts  vary  much  in  fertility,  but  good  or 
reasonably  good  land  greatly  preponderates 
Ihere  are,  however,  some  large  expanses  of 
barren  lands.  The  rainfall,  it  is  needless  to 
say,  in  a  country  so  world-famous  for  its  grain, 
is  sufficient,  but  this,  too,  is  more  certain  in 
some  parts  than  in  others.  Speaking  generally 
It  decreases  as  you  approach  the  Rockies, 
making  grain  farming  more  precarious,  while 
the  southern  portiori  of  Alberta  is  so 
dry  that  irrigation  is  practised  on  a  larce 
scale.  * 

The  atmosphere  is  so  clear  that  these  moun- 
ts is  come  into  view  when  about  a  hundred 
miles  distant.  At  eighty  miles  thev  seem  to  be 
climbing  high  up  into  the  sky.  the  country 
now  becomes  more  broken  and  hilly,  and  the 
streams  running  out  of  it  are  no  longer  muddy 
«nd  sluggish,  but  have  the  transparency  of 
mountain  waters  and  run  fast  over  stony 
bottoms.  This  is  known  as  the  foot-hill 
country,  and  is  more  suited  to  stock  than  to 
tillage. 

But  as  we  are  not  for  the  moment  concerned 
with  such  details,  it  is  enough  that  here  ends 
the  great  prairie  country  of  Canada,  the  middle 
section,  to  put  it  concisely,  of  the  Dominion, 
from  It  you  pass  into  the  tremendous  gloom 
and  solitude  of  rugged  and  sterile  Alps  from 
eight  to  ten  thousand  feet  high,  to  emerge 
in  due  course  mto  another  country  which  faces 


GEOGRAPHICAL 


19 


i 


and  drains  into  the  Pacific.     This  is  British 
Columbia.     If  the  Eastern  Canadian,   after 
travelhng  through  seven  hundred  miles  of  the 
rugged    wilderness    which    divides    his    o\vn 
home  country  from  it,  steps   .ut  on  to  the 
prairie  as  on  to  a  new  world,  he  experiences 
another  shock  on  the  railroad  as  it  crawls  at 
a  slow  pace  for  a  day  or  night  through  Alpine 
gorges  to  emerge  on  to  the  Pacific  slope,  with 
Its  sights,  gro^vths,  scents,  and  general  atmos- 
phere  quite   different   again  from  anythinc 
experienced  either  in  Eastern  Canada  or  on 
the  Prairie.     When  Columbus  was  asked  to 
describe    tht    newly    discovered    island    of 
Jamaica,  he  briefly  indicated  its  mountainous 
and  diversified  surface  by  crumpling  up  a 
piece  of  paper  and  throwing  it  on  the  table. 
Ihis  rough  method  of  illustration  would  apply 
still  more  to  British  Columbia.     It  is  a  land 
of  great  mountain  ranges  running  north  and 
south,  parallel  to  the  sea  coast,  of  which  the 
Rockies  and  the  Selkirks,  virtually  the  same, 
are  the  dominant   system,   while  westward 
from  these,  lower  ranges,  in  more  irregular 
courses,  may  be  said  to  descend  in  steps  to 
the  Pacific  coast. 

Having  thus  briefly  indicated  the  character 
of  the  three  grand  divisions  of  Canada,  what 
few  further  words  can  be  said  in  a  single 
chapter  about  the  physical  conditions  of 
each  and  the  Dominion  as  a  whole  may  be 


i^ 


20 


CANADA 


commenced  at  the  point  we  have  reached,  and 
continued  .n  a  rapid  backward  journey  t^  the 
A  antic.  Hritish  Columbia  is  about  ei^ht 
hundred  mUes  in  length  from  north  to  south, 
«nd  about  half  that  in  width  ;  a  sea  of  moun^ 
tains  and  hills  all  dad  with  forest,  mainly  of 

i?c?ok '"*"  •'''  ^r^^''^^••«  the  peaks  of  the 

linl    •     '''"'  '"  ""''^^"^  ^"^k  above  the  timber 

mL  'LTT  ^r  "?P'^   ""'^^   perpetual 
sno^y  and   flanked   with    glaciers.      Far  the 

grea  cr  proportion  of  the  province  is  as  yet 
evrl?  f  "*  and  practically  uninhabitable, 
except  for  such  purposes  as  lumbering  and 
mining.  Just  here  Uritish  territory  dofs  not 
extend  to  "the  North  Pole,"  the^ detached 
from'ir^'^f"^    °^    ^^^^^^'    P--»^--d 

?nlt     ^  r^t f  ^''''''^'  ^'«'""^b'^  terminate 
dK^^^K^^''  ""^n  ""''^^  ^^'*^^^t  of  the  Yukon, 
divided  between  Canada  and  the  United  States 
ihe  province,   only  forty  years  old   in  anv^ 

hlZV^"""^'  ^'  '^^^'^'  P'^^^'^t  and  future 
habitation  is  a  mass  of  intricate  labyrinths 
m  the  shape  of  narrow  vallej-s  or  wider  rolling 

{t'fir^^'"Tu*^^"^«"S^^-  TheCanadi'an 
lacifie    railroad   has    now,   this    long    time 

climbed  the  Rockies,  forced  its  way  throrh 

ft TesrHif^T"^"^  *^'°"^^  '^'  broken  but 
far  less  difficult  country  to  the  Pacific,  while 

another  line  to  the  northward  is  in  the  makfug 

Ihe  first  named  road  has  its  port  at  Vaneouve?; 


1 


I 


GEOGRAPHICAL 


SI 


now  a  larprc  city  quite  riose  to  trie  Amorioan 
border.     Loeul   coniinunication,   so  far  as  it 
has  yet  pone  for  fruit  growers,  farmers,  miners 
and  lumbermen,  d<!pends  on  branch  railroads, 
or  considerable  lakes,  of  which  last  there  are 
quite  a  number  in  the  valleys.     1'he  scenery 
of  the  Rockies  and  Selkirk   ranges  is  map- 
nifieent,  and  on  the  scale  of  the  Swiss  Alps, 
the  highest  peak   reachin^r  eleven  thousand 
feet.     That  of  the  lower  mountain  and  hill 
country  is  often  very  beautiful,  particularly 
m   the   wide   valleys    and    rolling    plateaus 
often  known  as  "  the  park  country,"  from  the 
fact  of  Its  being  prairie  diversified  with  woods, 
gracefully  grouped,   as  in  an  English   park, 
Ihis  country  lies  between  the   Rockies  and 
the  sea  coast  strip,  and  enjoys  a   v^ery  fine 
climate— cold  in  winter,  but  less  so  than  that 
of  the  prairies,  and  so  dry  in  summer  in  many 
parts  as  to  require  irrigation  for  successful 
horticulture    or    farming.     The    coast    strip 
IS  hilly  and  broken  right  down  to  the  Pacific, 
and  entirely  covered  with  timber  very  largc'y 
consisting  of  huge  cedars,  pines  and  hemlocks 
of  a  Size  unknown  in  Eastern  Canada.     This 
gives  the  hills  and  mountains  a  rather  mono- 
tonous aspect,  while  the  density  and  gloom  of 
the  forest  itself  is  prodigious.     The  climate  on 
and  near  the  sea  coast  is  utterly  different 
from  that  of  any  other  part  of  the  Dominion, 
being  akin  to  Devonshire ;   brighter  and  drier 


i 


22 


CANADA 


than  this  last  summer,  but  even  wetter  and 
but  httle  colder  in  winter. 

The  Fraser,  rising  in  the  Rockies,  is  the 
chief  river  of  the  province.     It  flows  into  the 
sea  at  New  Westminster,  the  old  capital  and 
seat  of  the  fishing  industry,  and  within  a  few 
miles  of  Vancouver,  the  present  commercial 
and  shipping  capital,  which  is  seated  on  its  own 
deeply  embayed  riverless  harbour.     The  rivers 
of  South-Lastern  British  Columbia  drain  into 
the  Columbia  river,  and  find  their  way  to  the 
^f  1*,^?.^^  *^®  neighbouring  American  State 
of   Washington.     Population   is   thickest   on 
the    south-western    seaboard    corner,    repre- 
sented  mainly  by  the  cities  of  Vancouver  and 
^ew  Westminster,  engaged  in  trade,  manu- 
facturing,   and  fishing.     Rural  life   there  as 
elsewhere  is  restricted  by  nature  within  narrow 
confines.     This  is,  indeed,  the  great  feature  of 

^tu^T™""^' ^V''''^}'  ^"^  "^Sged  country 
with  Its  population  farming  here  and  there 
m  fertile  pockets,"  or  mining  for  coal,  gold, 
silver,  and  other  minerals  in  mountain  vallevs 
and  so  far,  only  sprinkled  about  in  the 
southern  portion  of  the  province. 

Opposite  to  Vancouver  city,  of  most  ill- 
chosen  and  confusing  name,  twenty  to  thirty 
miles  away  lies  the  southern  and  settled 
portion  of  the  island  of  Vancouver,  which 
about  thirty  miles  in  width,  runs  northward 
parallel  with  the  coast  for  two  hundred  and 


GEOGRAPHICAL 


28 


fifty  miles.  It  is  mainly  at  present  a  moun- 
tainous forest-clad  wilderness.  But  on  the 
southern  point  stands  Victoria,  the  oldest 
city  and  port  of  the  province,  and,  though 
far  behind  Vancouver  City  in  wealth  and 
population,  the  political  capital  of  the  i)ro- 
vince.  For  a  short  distance  behind  this  city 
spreads  a  smooth,  attractive,  and  gracious 
farming  and  fruit-growing  country,  terminated 
by  the  highland  wilderness,  which  constitutes 
most  of  the  island  Victoria  and  its  neighbour- 
hood has  the  most  perfect  climate  in  British 
North  America.  It  is  that  in  short  of  southern 
England  upon  its  very  best  behaviour.  The 
wayside  growths,  the  turf,  the  fields,  the  very 
scents,  with  the  moist  softness  of  the  air,  and 
the  look  of  the  seashore,  recall  an  English 
countrv-side. 

Returning  over  the  Rockies  to  the  prairie 
country,  which  is  calculated  to  carry  an 
infinitely  greater  population  than  British 
Columbia,  we  must  notice  the  two  pioneer 
and  dominant  cities  of  the  western  province 
of  Alberta— Calgary,  on  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railroad,  a  hundred  miles  north  of  the  Ameri- 
can border,  and  within  sight  of  the  Rockies,  and 
Edmonton,  a  hundred  and  seventy  i^iles  north 
of  this  a;,min  and  further  from  the  mountains. 
The  Bow  River,  rushing  down  from  the  moun- 
tains in  broad,  clear,  and  swift  current,  pursues 
later,  under  the  name  of  the  Saskatchewan,  a 


i 


tri 


24 


CANADA 


slower,  muddier  course   thmi.^h   n.. 
prairie  country,  uniting  wM.  the  NorthT"' 
Th/te""''  *"P'y™S  into  Lake  wfj^i':r 
t^rrit»y'  1:%ZliT  ^Tf"  ^'^'^"^'^ 
theAjniboin!,p:£„roV'^^^^^^^ 
.Wnfh   °'""'P'^'*  P'^™  country,^  conti3! 

This  belt  of  prairie,  now  more  or  le^Lmed 
for  three  hundred  and  odd  miles  in  width   ic 

gr^r^oftlf '^^^  northwards"  OUhtg;  ! 

fhe  Afh.L        "^^'^  ''°'*^^"'^  wilderness  Ind 

Xth«."fv^"'''  *^''°  •'y  ^°«  fertility     Bu? 

unHkellftish  rrT-  """I'^y-  °^'«'  ^hich, 
«ni  „L  .  ■  <^°'"mbia,  railroads  can  be  run 
and  are  being  run  in  all  directions  vrith  me 
througli  regions  that  can  or  will   fill   f w 

for'Tstlo^tre"'"?  "t  r-'  "-»  ^'h^ 
lorests  of  the  eastern  belt.     A  portion  of  fhl 

provmce   of    Manitoba    overlaps   Tntotili: 


I 


if 


I 


GEOGRAPHICAL 


25 


country.  The  Lake  of  the  Woods,  a  hundred 
miles  east  of  Winnipeg  on  the  Canadian 
Pacific  Railroad — a  real  deep  eastern  lake — is 
a  great  lumber  centre,  and  a  little  farther  east 
is  a  tract  of  fertile  country,  being  cleared  of 
woods  for  farming  purposes.  It  is  knoT\Ti  as 
New  Ontario,  being  at  the  western  end  of  that 
province,  an  oasis  of  farming  country  neither 
"  East "  nor  "  West. "  After  that  all  is  silence, 
not  likely  to  be  ever  seriously  broken,  for  six 
hundred  more  miles  till  we  are  back  again  in 
thickly  peopled  old  Ontario.  Another  im- 
portant centre,  however,  of  life  and  trade, 
and  another  oasis  in  the  wilderness  must  not 
be  left  behind  unnoticed,  and  that  is  the  twin 
towns,  practically  one,  of  Port  Arthur  and 
Fort  William.  They  stand  knit  together  at 
the  head  of  Lake  Superior,  between  hard, 
sterile,  desolate  heights,  and  handle  all  the 
western  traffic  that  goes  down  to  the  eastern 
centres  by  the  great  lakes  of  Superior,  Huron, 
Erie,  and  Ontario,  and  thence  by  way  of  tho 
St.  La^vrence  to  the  Atlantic.  This  Gulf  of 
St.  Lawrence,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  state, 
is  the  great  mouth  which  receivt  ;  the  larger 
part  of  the  volume  of  trade  and  travel  that 
goes  in  and  out  of  Canada,  and  by  this  means 
can  penetrate  to  its  heart  at  Montreal  before 
unloading  cargoes  or  stepping  on  shore.  Nor 
will  the  reminder  be  needed  that  this  same 
great  waterway  is  absolutely  icebound  from 


--  '-«*■' .', 


^^vnrrTTr 


26 


CANADA 


B  expected  in  the  near  ft,t„r.1  u  '  Jowever. 
Hudson's  Bay.  wC  the  nL  "X^t'^"  'S 
connections  promised  by  one  n„^7  f  ™*'' 
are    comnleted      P„-f.  ^»  .     P°"*ieal  party 

south  of  the  Gulf  om  I  :'^'  J"^'  *"  the 
a  short  strip  of  slcisrrv'^T''''  *^ 
freeze  up  and  aifor^ft       ^^'"^   "^"^  "o* 

analter,^ttveef^ttorf  ""i  ""^  "'"'" 
the  southern  shorT  of  m!?  T"*"^"  '"''*» '« 
adjoininecoastof  \v    «      *  ^''°''*'  «"<!  the 

b/the  ~orr7iirir  tetTr 

on'LlrntL'S  JH.   a,- urp^t.  Joh 
way  of  the  ITnif„i  e!  ?<""""<>".  except  by 

up  for  five  L'i  rof'tiryear'.'  '.^  ^'^ 

by  means  of  raiJroaH^  f!f  n  ^  u       ^^  '*  '^  'low, 

though   they  tavetse  in^^ 

wilderness  countrv  'ooi^  ^T'  "^""^  ^^"^- 
go  in  and  outTS;a&  "^uP^"'^"^^^^  ^a« 
while  the  same  ports  ^e^^^^^^^ 
times  to  their  resn^tim.  ^"^  ^'"^'"^  ^*  ^" 
a  secondary  m::^^::,^^^  ?f  -^^.- 
in  the  summer  season  JDomimon 

Canadian  seas  "s^  pi; °^  ,*^^  ^^«ds  within 
would  seemTt' first  r^T'll  ^"°"^^'  ^'  it 
which  has^ef^edlnpi!  '  *^^  T^^'  P'°^i««e 
of  Canada  ^^^f*/  '1°''  '"  *^^^  Dominion 
nada.     It  forms  a  barrier  between  the 


I 


• 


j^-^a  ,v  JI'^S>lLH'i^\t  *lk^^^.<^*'>^JHIIIiU.»C"TmT^«k  ii, 


GEOGRAPHICAL 


2T 


Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  the  outer  Atlantic, 
for  its  northern  point  looks  over  the  narrow 
Strait  of  Belle  Isle  to  Labrador,  easily  visible, 
while  its  southern  extremities  look  over  the 
wider  strait  dividing  it  from  Cape  Breton  in 
Nova  Scotia,  which  province  constitutes  the 
lower  horn  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence. 
Canadian  summer  traffic  passes  through  one 
or  other  of  these  passages,  to  enter  Canadian 
waters,  and  strangely  enough,  within  sight 
of  coasts,  in  the  case  of  Newfoundland,  as 
desolate  to  all  seeming,  and  very  nearly  so  in 
actual  fact,  as  when  the  Cabots  first  discovered 
them  in  1496. 

Nova  Scotia  is  the  first  of  the  Dominion 
provinces  to  confront  the  Atlantic  traveller,  a 
long,  narrow  peninsula,  nearly  three  hundred 
miles  in  length,  with  an  average  width  of  only 
thirty  to  seventy  miles.  It  is  tied  to  the  main- 
land by  a  neck  narrower  still,  and  this  main- 
land is  New  Brunswick,  which  formed  with 
it  at  one  time  the  old  French  province  of 
Acadie.  Spreading  along  the  north  shore  of 
both  these  provinces  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Law- 
rence and  within  easy  sight  is  Prince  Edward 
Island,  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  long 
and  from  five  to  thirty  miles  in  width.  Thr^e 
three  provinces,  the  comparatively  small 
area  of  the  latter  being  partially  atoned  for 
by  its  thick  population,  form  together  The 
Maritime  Provinces,  a  distinct  geographical 


98 


CANADA 


[* 


&tr^t;^/tVt«-'«.c  and  Ontario. 

and  remoter  ZtsttV.f'"^:    ^''«  «'Wer 
I-ower  St.  LaC,!^  *"■"  *^"«''«''  on  the 

the  wilder  no  ther^^T^"'  '°  '^^  ''««.  with 
wick,  but  the  '^™e  of    T'  "^  ^"^  "runs- 

'as.-na„,ed  prolt  t  deVthe'^t  "'-""^ 
fctate  of  Maine  T!.,<:  .  i  ®  American 
bet«eentl,ernuIo„r  *""'""'  «  ^'^e  gap 
wick,  whieh'Tie  to  t  !"!."'  ^"*  ^""'^- 
St.  John  River  and  nn,f  'r*"'"''^  «"»  the 
a  st^ll  greater  g:"p^™^t:„t.^°fFundy,  and 

iriL:rLftKi^--^nt^^ 
'-rx:'£r3r°thr"^^- 

St.  LawTenceand  thT^f  •     *°"i*  "'»<"•«  <>'  the 

ian  settlement  and  M.!T  °'  ^""'^h  Canad- 

has  a  further  'jou?ne^ofr"'T  "P  ^''^  "^er 

before  reaching^  Seethe"'^  ?""*'''  ■""«» 
was  called  ''The  Can,;,*  ..  l**5"'»y  °' what 

federation  of  ISCT  v.?  ''f  "'^  "•«  Con- 
treaties  have  pl!ced  a  h^r""'^  international 
maritime  proWnces  on  fT"  ^^''''^'"'  these 
Quebec  and  Ontario  on  th„.,  °"^  ^''''«'  ^"d 
speak  with  tSio  al  \°  '*''•  ^^^"»*ans 
Ashburton  Bound^v  rLt  "^f"'''    °'    the 

P-n^tted  the  Stat^of"^!,-^  J«-;t^S; 


GEOGRAPHICAL 


29 


up  behind  New  Brunswick  to  within  a  short 
distance  of  the  Lower  St.  Lawrence.  Rail- 
roads in  recent  times,  impelled  more  by  the 
necessity  of  winter  ports  for  the  Dominion 
than  winter  internal  communications,  have 
done  much  to  bind  these  two  divisions  of 
Eastern  Canada  together.  Formerly  the  mari- 
time provinces  had  their  faces— their  sea 
fronts,  that  is  to  say— turned  to  their  near 
neighbours,  the  New  England  States,  and 
their  great,  shaggy,  uplifted  backs  to  the 
Canadas.  Even  now  it  takes  as  long  to  go 
from  one  to  the  other  as  it  does  from  London 
to  the  North  of  Scotland. 

Ascending  the  St.  Lawrence,  as  regards 
proportions,  might  be  roughly  likened  to 
steaming  up  the  English  Channel.  The  shores 
become  visible  from  each  other,  at  about  the 
width  of  the  Straits  of  Dover,  a  hundred 
miles  below  Quebec.  Till  then,  upon  the 
north  shore,  which  is  continuously  bold  and 
rugged,  and  remains  so,  there  are  no  people 
to  look  across,  nor  ever  will  be.  The  south 
shore,  which  for  a  long  time  is  equally  bold, 
carries  a  small  and  scattered  fishing  population, 
and  then  descends  to  a  low  coast,  along  which 
old  French  agricultural  settlements  extend, 
thickening  as  they  approach  Quebec.  On  the 
bolder  north  shore,  rising  in  places  to  moun- 
tainous heights,  but  for  a  shorter  distance 
and   in   more   scattered   fashion,    the   same 


so 


CANADA 


Arte "  «tf et""  •""■""  '•'-"  -■'I-'- 

Isle  of  Oricnn,    the  Hr'''"''-7:«   ""'   '"^,1, 

ancient  l.>cn<-h  o^v  H.  .  '  "'"'  f'™"  "'e 
of  «n  outer  K„tewa^  ,^  "  '.•^'^■^'";»'  '■''«'«'^t«r 
every  respect JtactTnlvrs  T''"'  "u''''''''  '" 
«nd    forty    miles   the   S      t         ""'' '"'"<''•<"' 

'ts  width.  spre«,h„r„|,™t  E  ^""  "'*""' 
lake  of  St  IVt<.r  „'*'?""""  ''"I'- wny  into  the 

with  wide  .,t:et;he,^f';v;T''T??  ""  '"'"'  ""'"» 
t..ml  eo,mtrv„?thit^'  '"!/"'"'■''  T''"^' 
towns.     Thc'laroVrf  J.        '"'f"'   ""''   '''«« 

which  stands  „r?he  south  1'  '"  ^°''"''- 
island.     For   the   n»!  ','""'''  °'  »  We 

here  as  tl  c  St    r?i     ™'    ^i''"""'   «»    wide 

point  from  the  ^rTh      ^  IT'  '"  »'  «>■, 

of  the  two  rivers  fo^m',""'',;^''  eonfluenees 

about  twentrmdes  wM:T'''*^'"«  ''''«  »  '"^e 

triang,dar-.sh«pedLTndi?'^M^ /'"'';'  ''^  ">« 
is  the  inner  nortal  of  r    °'  """t''''"'.  which 

up  the  0?ta,Cavigab,e  tht  f '"'^•'"^  '"""" 
ers,  stands  the  citv  of  ntf„        if  ""•«'«»■"• 

the  Dominion,     in'^seem Se  St  S"""  "' 
you  pursue  from   ,>„"«  ^"®  ^^*^- Lawrence 

;outh^we.s:rIyTou  sc     tLn""*  "  ^'<"«Jy 
t..eeivd,.tio:-,„^„^«-^,toMont^, 


GEOGRAPHICAL 


81 


deep,  nnd  soon  fnclcs  awny  nl  the  Imrk  into 
the  jfrcftt  northern  wil<lcrnoss.  To  the  Kfnith- 
wanl  it  continues  to  the  United  Stutes  border, 
where  n  rugged  and  mountainous  country,  for 
the  most  part,,  divides  the  nations.  South  of 
Quebec  this  boundary,  which  hitherto  ha» 
pushed  very  near  tlie  St.  Lawrence,  takes 
o  sudden  dip  downwards,  and  leaves  a  hundred 
miles'  width  of  Canadian  territory.  Then, 
turning  due  west,  it  decreases  this  breadth, 
which  is  nearly  all  a  well-occupied  aj^riculturnl 
country,  till  about  fifty  miles  above  Mfmtreal 
it  runs  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  which  forma 
henceforward  the  international  line. 

At  the  mouth  of  the  Ottawa,  which  divides 
the  two  provinces,  that  of  Quebec,  dominated 
by  the  French,  who  are  in  an  overwhelming 
majority,  gives  way  to  Ontario,  which  is  as 
overwhelmingly  Dritish.  The  last  and  highest 
stretch  of  the  St.  Lawrence  under  its  own 
name,  that  from  Lake  Ontario  to  Montreal, 
is  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  long,  but  is 
broken  by  some  unnavigablc  rapids,  which 
have  to  be  circumvented  by  canalj,.  This 
fixed  Montreal  from  the  earliest  times,  and 
will  retain  it  undisputed,  as  the  great  commer- 
cial capital  of  the  Dominion.  It  never  could 
have  had  a  rival  from  the  earliest  days  of 
serious  trade.  Nature  made  it  and  will  retain 
it  as  the  great  emporium  of  the  Dominion. 
The   Province   of   Ontario,   after   facing   its 


■.-rt-fiQa''  -" 


r^^^ 


■Bin 


S2 


CANADA 


American   neighbours    for   a    Inn^   ^- * 
across  the  St  Lawr^nn^  /n         ^^   distance 

the  Nfagara  ^Z:7ZJtZ"srL'^P>'i'  °' 
Again,  at  the  south-western  o,L  I'awrence. 
where  Uke  Huron  T^t^  tT  'f'  °'"""<'' 
others,  eomes  doA  fm^  thi"""  "V*"?  °'  "^e 
Michigan  and  r,^i    *T      ®  "°'*'''  between 

point ff  Lake  E^?fh«.-°''",:^  ">«  ^«^tem 
tact.    After  that  T»t     »*  "'''"*  ''"«  »'  "on- 

keep  the^tionffaV'ou't  o?S  o?'  ^^^ 

or  seven  hundred  mi?^  ^vf  ^' »  ^'^  ""'^ 

Sau  t  St.  Marie  wh^i  f  •     *  ™onient  at 

great  can7mMk  Sie  n^° T  ^*'  "^P'^'  »■>«•  » 
the  twoSe^"nH^tP°'"'  °^  "Contact  between 

the  nort&r  ^.^ISS  &"  «' «" 
this  IS  far  into  the  wilds  *^*-    ^"' 

Riverl^rhe":oSh^h"S:?/trSt\' """"'' 
fnd  Lake  Ontario.  This  Ulttht  ""^"T 
into  an  axe-heart  „.„•      i         *"*"  expands 


UET^.^^toi>i°:i;>ri 


GEOGRAPHICAL 


88 

Fl^'T'i^l  °'  ^'^^^'^^  washed  by  Lake 
^le  and  Lake  Huron.  Northward  of  the 
belt  forming  the  easter-i  half  of  Ontario  L  the 
great  north  wilderness  spoken  of  i^Si  . lie 
chapter,  sprinkled  thinl^y  wi?h  Lmtr  ^^03 

stanS"  at"^tre*"'T"*^'   The  capital.  Toro7o 
stands  at  the  western  end  of  Lake  OnfarJ.. 

&Tt  th'  °^'."^°*^^^  '^^^' ?^e  p- 

vince,   at    the  eastern   outlet   of   the  lake 

^Mh^^l^'^H'  ^'^^  *^^  peninsulit^e 
^cupied  by  small  farms,  sprinkled  thickly 
jath  towns,  and  generously  watered  by  quick 
nomng  rivers  of  small  and  moderate  ^li^ 

^t'toThi"'^^-"""  '^^  manufacturing  puTl 
poses  to  the  growing  prosperity  of  the  province. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE   CONQUEST   OF   CANADA 

The  conquest  ofrCanada  by  Great  Britain 
was  not  the  result  of  any  premeditated  design, 
but  of  a  war  undertaken  in  defence  of  her 
American  colonies  against  the  far-reaching 
schemes  of  France,  which,  if  successful,  might 
have  proved  disastrous  to  the  British  race  in 
JNorth  America.     In  the  middle  of  the  18th 
tt'ilJ  *^®  American  States,  which  now  fringe 
the  Atlantic  from  Canada  to  Florida,  were  all. 
save  the  last-named,  which  then  belonged  to 
fepain,  British  colonies,  containing  nearly  two 
miLion  over-sea  Britons  or  British  subjects ; 
about  one-seventh  the  population  of  the  mother 
country.     Even  then  most  of  them  were  much 
older  communities  than  are  the  Australians 
to-day.     With  the  exception,  however,  of  the 

New  Eng  and  group— Massachusetts,  Connecti- 
cut,  Rhode  Island,  and  New  Hampshire,  which 
were  nearer  together,  of  the  same  Puritan 
origin,  and  allied  in  habit  and  sentiment, 
these  colonies  had  nothing  to  do  with  each 
other.     New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 

34 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA      as 

Maryland    Virginia,  and  the  two  Carolina* 
to  g,ye  the.r  order  of  procession  down  ^ 
Atlantic  coast   had  each  been  indepcndentlv 
founded,  and  had  grown  to  prospirity  and 

populationquiteindepcndentlyotoL  another 
Then   several  territories  were  each  more  or 

Extern  T  °'/"Sland.  They  had  all.  Hk" 
i-astern  Canada,  been  densely  dad  with 
P"™f  ™'  'Of  St.  The  colonists,  who  then 
called  themselves  Pennsykanians  FirLiam 
and  so  forth,  not  Americans,  had  nothing  "^e 
spread  over  their  own  respective  terrftoris 

whL  tr'/'"  °"  "!f  "^''  "  «dal  river 
while  the  farmers  and  planters  still  mainly 

M„r  uT:^.  *  ^"*'*  governor  presided  over 

thrmil  fV?'^  ""^"^  'y  e°^«™«I  themselves 
through  their  own  little  parliaments. 

EnlL^L  r'  tl!  •*''"'  ^'P'"^  Produce  to 
1-ngIand  from  their  own  ports,  and  received 
m  return   such   manufactures   and   luxuries 

nrJtf^n'T''*'^-*     ^'"=y  '''^  nothing    and 
practically  knew  nothing  of  their  next-door 
neighbours.     Distances  were  great  and  means 
of  land  transport  utterly  wanting.     Moreover 
each  province  was  quite  sufflcieSt  unto  itsdf 
even  to  jealousy,  and  produced  all  the  elemen 
tary  necessities  of  life.     What  else  it  rcqu^reS, 

iJ^''^''"  ?™  "  '='>n«*ra''le  trade  with  the  British  V/«,l 
JXl«t™altrf  ^  "■'*"°-"  *="  -"  1^"^  ^ 

B2 


V3..-,!t.--J-.-., 


LTWli^WBr 


86 


CANADA 


with   exceptions   not   worth   mentioning,    it 
received    from    English    ports,    whethe?    of 
^.nghsh   or    Continental    origin.     For   Great 
iJritam  had  let  her  American  colonies  go  their 
own  way  within  wide  limits  on  one  condition, 
namely,  that  they  traded  with  her  alone,  and 
tha.,   too,   by  means  of  British  or  colonial 
ships      England,  on  her  side,  gave  free  entry 
to  their  produce,  and  taxed  that  of  other 
nations.     Furthermore,  her  fleets  and  armies 
were  the  guarantee  of  a  security  which  had 
rarely  been  threatened  in  all  their  history, 
but  without  which  their  existence  would  not 
have  been  worth  a  month's  purchase.     This 
substantially,   for  the  trade  and  navigation 
laws  were  subject  to  generally  well-intentioned 
variations   in    detail,    was    the    position    of 
J^ngland  to  her  colonies,  and  the  arrangement 
was  considered  by  both  parties  a  fair  one, 
which  in  those  times  it  undoubtedly  was. 

Now,  from  New  England,  down  the  back 
of  all  these  colonies,  barely  yet  reached  by 
their  back  settlements,  and  nearly  parallel  with 
the  Atlantic,  ran  the  great  Alleghany  chain  of 
mountains,  three  or  four  thousand  feet  high, 
and  of  considerable  width.  This,  in  1754. 
was  the  limit  of  British  operations,  but  not  of 
British  or  colonial  aspirations— not,  that  is 
to  say,  of  the  imperial  thinking  and  farsighted 
i!,  J*'  though  such  were  then,  it  must  be 
added,  but  a  trifling  handful.    The  average 


THE  COxNQUEST  OF  CANADA      87 

Briton  at  home  neither  knew  nor  cared  any- 

nahill      ''^     '""'    .  ^^"^'•''     ^"d    perhaps 
hfi       Jl  '°-u  r.    ^""'"''y    ^^«^^d    territoi^. 
bigger   than   h.lfa-dozer.    Englands,    would 
have  struck  ev, ..  the  rare  Imperialist  of  the 
second  George  s  time  as  a  noble  and  satisfyincr 
inheritance     But  there  were  a  few  men  whS 
saw  beyond  this  into  the  future,  which  was 
fortunate.     The  colonists,  absorbed  in  their 
own  affairs,   and   out   of  touch   with  world 
politics,   merely  saw  when  they  were  near 
enougn,  m  these  distant  blue  mountains,  a 
mighty    forest-clad    barrier,    behind    which 
spread  an  unknown  wilderness,  haunted  bv 
the    fierce    Indians    their    forefathers    had 
slowly    pushed    back    over    them.     Traders 
and   hunters,    however,    had    brought    back 
reports  of  this  over-mountain  country,  which 
hred  the  imagination  of  some,  and  made  a 
few  other  statesmen-like  people  think.     For 
this  country  behind  the  mountains  was  the 
Dasm  of  the  Ohio,  spreading  away  to  the  Mis- 

"  Mv&'i'  w"^  *.°','^^7  ,^«Pr«sented  by  the  fertile 
Middle  West  "  of  the  United  States,  a  richer 
region  than  that  of  the  Atlantic  provinces. 
Far  away  m  the  west  and  south-west  the 
iipamards  and,  to  a  less  degree,  the  French 
were  actually  or  nominally  in  possession! 
^ut  here  was  an  immense  no-man's-land 
that  every  colonist  who  thought  at  all  vaguely 
held  as  a  future  expanding  ground  for  his 


^mi5z;3eh;5^3^ 


88 


CANADA 


own  particular  colony.  Certainly,  he  never 
dreamed  of  another  European  power  getting 
in  there.  But  the  question  had  really  as  yet 
no  practical  significance  for  the  average  man 
on  either  side  of  the  ocean,  when  suddenly, 
like  a  bolt  from  the  blue,  it  leaped  into 
being. 

For    precisely    the    same    period    of    time 
that  the  English  colonies  had  been  developing 
mto  a  condition  of  prosperity  that  astonished 
every  European  visitor,  British  or  foreign,  the 
French  had  been  settled  upon  the  St.  Law- 
rence.    Against  the  two  million  British  colon- 
ists,   however,    Canada  contained   but   sixty 
thousand,  mainly  peasants.     For  New  France 
had  been  treated  on  precisely  opposite  lines 
from   the   British   colonies,  and   very   much 
governed  indeed  from  home  by  locally  auto- 
cratic  representatives    of   the   French   king. 
Most  of  Its  population  had  been  transferred 
there  by  the  Government  in  the  17th  century 
and  settled  along  both  banks  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence between  Quebec   and  Montreal.      The 
country  had  been  laid  out  in  great  estates  or 
s^gneuries  which    were    given   to    military 
oHicers  or  men  of   some  condition,   and  on 
them  the  peasant  farmers  were  settled,  pay- 
ing trilling  rents    and   dues  to  these  little 
semi-feudal  lords  or  seigneurs.     But  neither 
sei-neur  nor   tenant   had   the   least  say  in 
the  government     The  descendants  of  these 


1  'yy  ^^jfiKtt  s^xiiin^aBorsiX 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA      89 

df^ol^;  '*"'^^^  observing  all  these  con- 
ditions represented  the  Canada  of  ^754 
When   the   crisis   came,    which   caused   such 

e'ndTd^ft    "^"^^^"^  ^"^  ^^^  colonies,   ani 

:xtction*  r  N^^Frir  Ind'^^^^^^^  ^"  ^^^ 
Iw  rr«of  T>  • .   .       prance  and  its  occupation 

.L,T  '*'''''•  ^"*  *^^^^  P^^^ant  farmers 
tnf  i^tu  ''^^*^  P'°^"^^  by  no  means  repre^ 
fn  Norfh^'i'''"'-^''^  aspirations  of  the  French 
n  North  America.  The  fur  trade,  more  or 
^ss  a  royal  monopoly,  was  the  chief  material 
Ch!:7u  T  ^^  "^^ssionary  zeal  of  the  Catholic 
^nnfH   '      Af  ^  l'''^'''^  ^'y  *he  Jesuits,  was 

with   ^h     "^  •'''^^^  *^"  ^"^  *^^d^'  «^^«  b;  side 
with   the  missionaries,   had  reached  out  its 

arms  in  scattered  posts  far  into  the  wilds 
even  over  the  north-western  prairie  countries! 
Ohl  V  u^  '"         1  *be  great  lakes  into  the 
Ohio  Valley,  L         i  the  Alleghanies. 
J   t  ^^^^"chman     fraternised     with     and 

Z^n^f^'^'\YT  ^^'  Englishman,  on 
the  other  hand,  hacked  out  a  farm,  destroyed 
his  hunting  grounds,  and  pushed  the  savage 

«nS  fi.  °"^^  *¥'■'  =^^^'°"«  missionaries 
and  their  careless,  light-hearted  traders,  the 
French  had  secured  the  friendship  of  most 
Of  the  northern  and  western  Indians.     The 

oZl  ff^'^'n''''^'  *yP^fi^^  by  the  Iroquois, 
celebrated  in  Cooper's  novels,  and  who  occu- 
pied territory  just  south  of  Lake  Ontario, 
were,  for  reasons  set  forth  in  a  later  chapter 


40 


CANADA 


hostile  to  the  French  ard  friendly  to  the 
English.     For  it  should    ,e  mentioned  that 
the  New  Englanders  and  the  French,  being 
neighbours,  had  waged  frequent  wars  together. 
Certain  enterprising   spirits   who  then  con- 
trolled the  French  Government  of  Louis  XV., 
had  a  little  before  this  conceived  a  daring 
plan,  which  was  no  less  than  to  build  a  chain  of 
for  s  at  intervals  the  whole  way  down  from 
Lake   Erie,    through   this   western   country, 
publicly  claim  it,  and  later,  perhaos,  introdu/^e 
a  stream  of  colonists,  and  thus  hem  in  the 
English   for   ever   to   their   strip   along   the 
Atlantic  coast.     They  even  dreamed  of  some 
day  gaining  such  strength  there  as  to  "  drive 
the  English  into  the  sea." 

France  set  much  store  by  Canada,  feeble  and 
unprogressive  as  it  now  in  the  retrospect  may 
seem  on  paper.  Her  Government  were  alarmed, 
too,  at  the  rapid  progress  of  the  English 
colonies,  feared  their  pressure  westward,  their 
future  influence  with  the  western  Indians, 
and  the  consequent  destruction  of  the  French 
fur  trade.  Another  strong  motive,  too,  was 
the  antipathy  then  felt  by  a  Catholic  Power 
towards  Protestantism  and  its  expansion. 

From  the  relative  strength  of  the  two 
nations  in  America  as  represented  by  popula- 
tion such  a  plan  might  well  appear  a  fantastic 
dream,  but  it  was  really  nothing  like  so 
hopeless  as  it  may  look  to-duy  in  cold  print 


■'SiTr.immBU^Ar-. 


-ESKSi^i^l^'*-' 


iMr^i 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA      41 

There  was  not  an  English  soldier  in  North 
America  whUe  every  Canadian  was  trained  to 
arms,  and  at  the  given  word  was  prepare  J  and 
was  generally  willing,    to  march  anj^here 
borne  regular  regiments,  too,  were  always  kept 
in  Canada     The  British  colonists  south  and 
west  of  New  England  were  regarded  by  the 
I^ench,  and  with  some  reason,  as  useless  in  the 
field  even  could  they  be  got  there,  so  indepen- 
dent, so  absorbed  in  business,  and  so  jealous 
were  they,  as  individuals,  of  the  right  to  do  as 
they  pleased  and  as  provinces,  of  one  another. 
France  was  then  the  first  power  in  the  world. 
Her  people  far  outnumbered  the  British.     Her 
disciplined  armies  were  far  larger  than  those 
of  England,   and  moved  at  the  will  of  an 
autocratic  power,  while  in  sea  power  the  two 
nations  were  at  that  moment  fairly  balanced. 

^ZrV^^7  TV^''  '*°°^  ^^  1854,  when, 
!nH  IT  ^f^«  dipomacy  between  colonial 
and  French  officials,  and  some  trifling  but 
significant  skirmishing  between  small  forces 

tZtw  V  *1  '^"^  wilderness,  in  which 
Oeorge  Washington,  then  an  ardent  youns 
commander  of  Virginian  militia,  took  a  leading 
part,  the  crisis  came.  The  French  officially 
claimed  the  whole  country  behind  the  moun- 
tains, and  erected  the  extensive  works  of 
*ort  Duquesne,  besides  some  others,  as  an 
earnest  of  their  pretensions  and  a  commence 
ment  of  more  extended  operations.    For  Ihe 


■rrsff 


42 


CANADA 


moment  these  distant  but  pregnant  doings 
got    scarcely    more   than    local    notice,    but 
happil>    two  Governors,   Dinwiddie    of  Vir- 
gmw,  and  Shirley  of  Massachusetts,  almost 
alone,  thoroughly  realised  all  that  it  meant. 
Jiut  to  the  colonies  most  menaced  and  con- 
cerned—Pennsylvania,   Maryland,    and    Vir- 
ginia, who  had  a  great  back  country  future, 
they   were  almost   as   voices   crying   in   the 
yilderness.     But  they  knew  their  men,  that 
IS  the  colonists,  and  appealed  direct  to  the 
Ji^nglish  Government,  which  in  1755  sent  out 
two  British  regiments  under  General  Braddock. 
Governor  Shirley  at  the  same  time  aroused 
the  ^ew  England  provinces,  which  though 
less  concerned  than  the  others,  put  a  large 
mihtia  force  at  his  disposal. 

In  the  blazing  summertime,  by  a  laborious 
march  through  woods  and  swamps,  General 
Braddock  led  the  first  expedition  ever  made 
by  a  regular  British  force  into  a  wilderness. 
JLiiey  crossed  the  Alleghanies  towards  Fort 
Duquesne,  where  at  a  spot  a  few  miles  short 
of   It  the   French   and    Indians    sprang    on 
them  m  the  thick  woods  and  cut  half  their 
force   of   about  one  thousand  two   hundred 
regulars  and  four  hundred  colonials  to  pieces. 
Pennsylvania  and   Virginia  had  done  httle 
to  forward  the  expedition,  and  this  end  of  it 
was  a  terrible  tragedy.     Utterly  unaccustomed 
and  bewildered  regulars  in  close  formation 


I'  i' 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA      48 

had  practically  formed  a  target  for  two  hours 
for    seven    hundred    Indians,    mingled    with 
French  bush-fighters,  to  shoot  at  ffom  thick 
cover.     The^  the  survivors,   about  half  the 
nuniber,  fled  panic-stricken  along  the  back- 
ward forest  trail,  reaching  Virginia  in  scattered 
bands    days    afterwards,    for    there    was    no 
pursuit.     There  was  no  serious  fault,  nor  lack 
of    precaution    on    Braddock's    part.     Men 
drilled  for  and  accustomed  to  fighting  and 
manoeuvring  on  European  fields,  were  dropped 
in!""  *^t,A"^^^i^an  woods  to  fight  the  most 
formidable  forest  warriors  the  world  has  ever 
seen,  mixed  with,  and  led  by  bush-fighting 
Frenchmen.     The  catastrophe  made  a  great 
sensation  in  England  and  France,  who  had  not 
yet    formally     declared     war,    thouffh    that 
mattered   little    in    those    days    as^^eglrds 
colonial     enterprises.     Braddock     had     died 
fighting  bravely.     Young  George  Washington 
by  a   miracle  survived   to  escape.     General 
history,  till  lately    and  light  lite'rature Tavl 
toid  this  tragic  tale  maccurately,  Thackeray 
following  suit  m  his  novel  "  The  Virginians. '» 
Pennsylvania,  with  twice  the  population  of 
Canada,  but  under  the  Quaker  influence,  refused 
any  assistance,  on  the  plea  that  all  war  was 
wrong.     Virginia  and  Maryland,  still  larger, 
mainly  contented  themselves  with  calling  the 
redcoats  cowards-afterwards.    The  Canadian 
authorities  had  taken  their  measure  justly 


44 


CANADA 


and  now  llio  lljicc  coloiiirs  were  lo  hnvc  a 
tnstc  (,f  the  Froncli.  >vlic.rn  Ihoy  hud  eliosen 
to  repanJ  as  n  bo^roy  used  hy  lireso.ne  oMieinls 
to  cximel    money  out  „f  duMp  poekels  und 
dKsturb    their    eoniforlable    huindruni    Jives. 
loT    hordes    of    Indians,    e^r^rd    on    or    led 
by    Irenehinen.     Jhiii^r    themselves    on    the 
frontiers    of   the   three   eolonies.    and    made 
tneni  for  two  years  seencvs  of  indeseribal)le 
Horror,     of    fire-swept    homesteads    and    of 
panie-strieken  fu^ritives.     Unfortunately,  the 
punishment   fell   on   the  least   eulpabl'e,   the 
sealtered  baekwoodsmcn  and  their  families, 
wliose  reniotc  sufferings  were  regarded  almost 
with   nidiffercnee    by   the  substantial   popu- 
lous eonnnunities  nearer  the  seaboard.     The 
^ew  Englanders.  however,  in  this  same  year, 
had    bestirred    themselves,  and    by    way    of 
diversion   made  two  expeditions  against  the 
more  northerly  outposts  of  the  L'reneh,  but 
with  no  ultimate  advantage  to  either  side 

But  ill  the  next  year,  1756,  when  war  was 
deelarcd  between  Franee  and  England,  the 
struggle  m  America  began  in  earnest.  The 
magnitude  of  the  stake  at  issue  was  but  half 
understood,  its  full  significance  being  still 
hidden  in  the  future.  Wise  men  of  both 
nations  realised  that  it  would  determine 
whether  the  British  race  were  to  push  on  into 
the  heart  of  the  continent,  or  be  confined  to 
tne    Atlantic    seaboard,--in    other    words. 


~gGEiniHS>!££2sss:'^:i'd9^ii'''^;::'irx^^£KeT^ 


TIIK  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA       45 

whether    IVancc    c.r   (Irvnt    Britain    were    to 
predominate   in   North   Anjcric/i.     Sonic  few 
vafniely  realised  all  that  this  nii^ht  mean,  and 
has  meant,  whirh  we  can  sec  fWainly  r.nouffh 
to-(hiy,    fhou^rli    we   have  to   substitute    tJjc 
words  "Jtriti.ih  race"  for  "  (;reat  JJritain." 
The    New    Kn^rland   colonies    were   ready   to 
fight  ilie  French  because  they   were  a  con- 
stant   menace   to    tficm ;    not    ordy    on    the 
wild,    vague,    undefined    borderland   between 
the  two  races,    but   on   those    northern  seas 
about  the  moulh   of  the   St.  Lawrence  and 
Nova  Scotia,  for  some  time  now  British  soil, 
and     on     their    own     innnediatc     seaboard.' 
Fishery    and     boundary    disputes,    and    the 
frequent  collisions  of  near  liostile  neighbours 
on  sea  and  land  had  been  inevitable  during 
former  Anglo-French  wars.     The  rniddJe  and 
southern  colonies,  whose  western  development 
and  even  future  security  was  gravely  menaced, 
either  could   n  "    or   would   not   realise  tlie 
situation.     This  was  mere  selfish  apathy,  not 
the  outcome  of  any  well-considered  opinion, 
for  there  could  not  have  been  two  opinions. 
If  fighting  was  to  be  done,   they  expected 
England  to  do  it  for  them,  though  individuals 
among  them  came  forward  in  brilliant  contrast. 
They  contributed  some  troops  and  some  money 
throughout   the  war,  but  in   proportion   to 
their    wealth    and    fighting    strength,    these 
contributions  were  quite  pitiful. 


smr^mmt*?:}'^-^^ 


49 


CANADA 


it 


France,  then,  for  the  moment  had  this 
clear  issue  in  view,  and  in  175C  sent  some 
good  regiments  under  a  first-rate  general. 
Montcalm,  to  reinforce  the  regulars  already 
there,  the  militia,  who  were  hardy  men  and 
good  bush-fighters,  and  the  French-Indians. 
i^ngJand,  too,  despatched  several  regiments, 
and,  at  first,  some  very  indifferent  generals.  At 
present  she  had  no  clear  intention  of  capturing 

S^'Jt^k?"*  ^^^^^"^  °^  ^""'^S  the  French  out 
of  the  Ohio  valley,  otherwise  the  great  back 
country  to  her  colonies,  and  from  some  other 
advanced  positions  they  had  taken  up,  and 
f3y  an  attack    on   various    Canadian    posts 
msurmg  the  present  safety  and  future  ex- 
pansion  rf  the   colonies   and   their   present 
tradm^^    ...tes.     The  British  army  had  been 
reduced  almost  to  vanishing  point  since  the 
peace    of    1748,    which    concluded    the    last 
Ji.uropean  war,  when  England  had  fought  with 
the  Austrians  against  France.     The  regiments 
had  now  to   be  filled  up    quickly  to  their 
strength,  and  many  new  ones  raised.     Leader- 
ship was  at  a  low  ebb,  owing  partly  to  the  fact 
that  jobbery  and  favouritism,  regulated  pro- 
motion.    France,  to  her  undoing  in  America, 
had  taken  the  side  of  Austria  and  the  other 
powers  against  Frederick  of  Prussia,  who  now 
became    England's    ally    in    Europe.     Thus 
matters  stood  in  1756. 
The  war  in  America,   though  there  was 


'■-^^.'5f,   -.jwr^ffi 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA       47 

no  lack  of  activity  on  both  sides,  produced 
small  results  for  the  first  two  years.  Owing 
to  the  icebound  winters  serious  campaigning 
was  only  possible  from  May  to  November. 
The  area  of  fighting  was  in  that  then  shaggy 
wilderness  which  stretched  southward  from 
the  St.  La^vTence  and  the  great  lakes  to  the 
frontier  settlements  of  the  British  colonies. 
Though  Fort  Duquesne  was  kept  in  view  as 
one  object  of  capture,  it  was  by  striking 
northward,  at  Canada  itself,  that  the  clearing 
of  her  forces  out  of  the  Ohio  valley  in  the 
west  was  mainly  effected.  For  the  whole 
strength  of  Canada  was  now  withdra^vn 
to  defend  her  frontiers,  and  this  fighting 
strength  amounted  to  about  six  or  seven 
thousand  regulars,  and  about  twice  as  many 
militia,  with  large  bodies  of  so-called  Christian 
Indians,  living  on  Canadian  soil.  The 
British  had  at  their  disposal  about  ten  thou- 
sand regulars,  and  as  many  more  provincial 
militia,  the  larger  portion  from  New  England. 
Waterways  through  the  tangled  wilderness 
were  the  only  war  routes.  By  lakes,  rapids, 
and  rivers,  with  intervals  of  rough  roads 
between  them,  the  opposing  forces  could  alone 
move  against  each  other  in  any  strength. 

To  describe  the  course  of  the  war  between 
the  French  and  English,  its  battles,  skirmishes, 
marches,  and  sieges  in  these  wild  woods  for 
the  next  two  or  three  years,  in  as  many  pages, 


:*''!ai"^"S'X.OTM' 


48 


CANADA 


Tth^h^  ^n^Possible  To  rapidly  outline  it 
7nt)    "T^l°/  unfamUiar  places  and.  it  is 

would  make  dull  fare.  It  is  enough  that  5 
the  spring  of  1758  the  British  forces  were  not 
one  step  nearer  Caaada.  nor  had  they  reachS 
westward  m  sufficient  strength  to  curb  tS 

whTtiri  •i''^^''?  ^>^°"^  *^^  Alleghanies, 
Ilh«n      .^"^  ^^'°^^*^  *^^  ^'^«t«rn  frontier. 

^«ft^fV  V^^^""^  *^*P^^^  o'  New  York 
State  then  a  frontier  trading  town,  was  the 
chief  British  base.  It  stands  a  hundr^  ^les 
up  the  navigable  Hudson  River  durn^rth 
from  New  York  city.  From  thence  nature  had 
stretched  with  slight  interruptions  a  straight 
two  hundred  miles  of  wlterway  to  the 
5>t.  Lawrence,  near  Montreal  in  great  oart 

Champlam.  A  second  but  much  more  difficiJt 
route  branched  to  the  left  or  north-west  from 
near  Albany  up  the  Mohawk  valley,  and 
then  over  a  high  watershed  down  to  L^ke 

poTer'Fo'^^'n  '  '''^'''  r^''  -'  British 
power,  Fort  Oswego,  m  the   neighbourhood 

fLl^  indeterminate  and  wavering  fronUer 
looked  across  to  Canada.  ^^^nuer. 

Mainly  up  the  former,  but  in  a  less  dt^m-^ 

battle  ebbed  and  flowed,  through  the  Lxk 
wilderness  between  mountain  hefhts  rS- 
coated,     helmeted.     pipe-clayed,     pig-tSw 


■(r%-Ofl'  'WJulHXei 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA      49 

English    infantry,    kilted    Highlanders    (for 
few  concessions  to  comfort  or  climate  were 
then     made),     blue-coated     New     England 
militiamen,   rustic  and  democratic,   electing 
their  own  officers,  scouts,  or  rangers,  in  deer- 
skin    hunting      frocks     and     mocassins,     a 
motley   host,   laboured  backwards  and  for- 
wards, in  fleets  of  boats  or  by  forest  tracks, 
dragging   artillery   or   supplies   through   the 
inhospitable  wilds.     On  the  French  side  was 
the  same  picturesque  variety.     The   white- 
coated  infantry  of  old  France,  the  blue-clad 
regulars  of  the  colony,  the  militia,  with  their 
homespun  frocks   and  red  sashes,   and   the 
Indians  radiant  in  war  paint  and  feathers. 
A   strange   flare   of   colour,   and   medley   of 
various  types  of  men  and  races,  was  thus 
struggling   in  imposing  scenes    of   primeval 
nature,  for  as  great  a  stake  as  men  ever  fought 
for,  had  they  known  it.     In  the  drear  wintry 
desolation,  when  the  main  armies  had  retired 
into    winter   quarters,   companies    of    hardy 
rangers  from  both  sides  made  daring  raids 
over  frozen  lakes,  or  on  snow-shoes  by  forest 
trails,  while  small  garrisons  held  the  isolated 
forts  which  the  past  summer's  fighting  had  left 
to  either  side.     It  was  a  novel  war  for  British 
soldiers,  officers,  and  men.  Our  people  in  those 
days,  unlike  these,  were  quite  raw  to  it,  but 
were    fast    learning.      The    colonial    militia, 
except  the  corps  of  picked  backwoods  rangers. 


1^1 


CANADA 

had  little   discipline,   being  disbanded  each 
autumn  to  be  freshly  enrolled  in  the  spring, 
and  though  willing  enough  were  not  very 
efficient.     Montcalm,  the  French  general,  had 
I)roved  too  clever  and  adroit  for  his  opponents. 
The  English  had  scored  a  few  small  successes, 
and  the  French  some  more  important  ones, 
but  as  the  defenders  of  Canada,  after  three 
seasons'  fighting,  they  had  so  far  decidedly  the 
best  of  it.     British  reinforcements  had,  how- 
ever, come  out,  and  a  great  effort  to  break 
through  Montcalm's  defences  at  the  neck  of 
land  separating  Lakes  George  and  Champlain, 
which  would  open  the  way  into  Canada,  was 
now  made.     On  a  torrid  July  afternoon  six 
thousand  regulars,  with  as  many  more  militia 
to  support  them,  were  hurled  for  four  hours 
in  brave  but  hopeless  effort  against  impreg- 
nable stockades,   from    behind    which  some 
three  thousand  lYench  soldiers,  under  Mont- 
calm, mowed  them  down  at  will.     This  was  the 
ever  famous,  and  to  us  disastrous,  battle  of 
Ticonderoga,  celebrated  by  Fenimore  Cooper 
m  "  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans."    Nearly  two 
thousand  men  and  officers,  mainly  regulars, 
fell  in  four  hours,  a  Highland  regiment  actually 
losing  half  its  strength.     It  was  a  disaster, 
however,  illuminated  by  the  utmost  bravery, 
though    followed    by    an    immediate     and 
humiliating  retreat.     An  incompetent  general, 
Abercomby,    was   the  cause   of  it   all.    An 


tsi^v-.'jrA' 


i 


1 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA       51 

hour  of  artillery  fire  would  have  swept 
away  Montcalm's  defences,  with  the  certain 
defeat  and  possible  capture  of  himself  and 
the  flower  of  his  Canadian  army.  Canada 
occupied,  the  war  would  probably  have  then 
ended.  But  Abercomby,  after  carrying  his 
guns  for  days,  left  them  now  just  out  of 
reach  m  his  rear,  and  hurled  his  battalions 
with  bayonet  and  claymore  at  a  hopeless 
task,  till  the  havoc  wrought  was  beyond  repair 
by  so  weak  a  man,  and  he  threw  up  the  whole 
enterprise. 

But    1758  was,  nevertheless,  the   turning 
point.     There  were  no  more  disasters.    Every- 
thing now  went  well  for  the  British,  partly 
from  their  own  improved  morale  and  leader- 
ship, and  partly  from  the  failing  resources  of 
Canada,  and  the  fatally  indifferent  attitude 
of  a  changed   French   Government  towards 
their  American  possessions.     Canada  was,  in 
truth,   half  starved.     Her  small   population 
of   primitive   farmers   barely   raised   enough 
food  for  the  colony,  with  its  hordes  of  fur 
traders  and  military  garrison,  in  normal  times, 
r^ow,  having  more  troops  than  ever  to  provide 
for,  and  called  away  themselves  by  thousands 
to  the  war,  meat  and  bread  were   painfully 
scarce,  for  the  watchful  activity  of  the  British 
navy  prevented  relief  from  France,  either  in 
men    or    provisions,   from  entering    the    St. 
Lawrence.     Lastly,  a  gang  of  French  civilian 


rlii. 


52 


CANADA 


i  i 


?^f\^  ^^""^^^  '*^^^^  P'^y^^  °"  the  increas- 
ing  destitution  of  the  colony  to  the  filJing  of 
their  own  pockets.     Montcalm,  the  soul  of 
honour,  and  an  accomplished  general,  had  no 
power  over  the  Governor,  Vaudreuil,  a  weak, 
jealous  man,  who  suffered  this  incredible  rascal- 
IffAi  r^.    not  sharing  in  it.     Every  possible 
effort  to  feed  the  troops  was  made  by  Mont- 
calm  and  his  French  officers,  and  with  partial 
success.     But   worse  even  than   this,    those 
French  dreams  of  American  Empire  which 
provoked  the  war  had  vanished.     New  men 
incapable  of  such  far-seeing  aspirations,  were 
m  power    and  the  nation  committed  to  a 
useless  and  exhausting  war  in  Europe.   Canada 
was    virtually    abandoned    by    1758,    with 
intimation  to  Montcalm  to  hold  out  as  long  as 
he  could.     Nor  was  his  gallant  response  to 
the  order  a  mere  fruitless  effort  for  the  sake  of 
military  and  national  honour.    For  a  general 
European  peace  might  come  at  any  time,  and 
If  It  found  Canada  still  French,  French  it  would 
probably  remain,  and  all  would  be  well. 
But  tlie  very  stars  in  their  courses  foueht 

l^^t'i!!?  FT""^:  ^"^  ^^^^^  ^^th  the  short- 
sighted folly  of  her  own  rulers.  Just  when 
her  soldiers  were  so  successfully  holding  at 
arms  length  the  British  power  in  North 
America  the  great  William  Pitt,  afterwards 
Earl  of  Chatham,  stepped  into  full  control  of 
U^nglands  foreign  policy  and  foreign  wars. 


>     !i 


'(^^MMCJSRni  ij;B>j>'^v3r    ■  iiii  imiiii  ii      i"  iii 


I 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA      53 

His    burning    patriotism    and    great    genius 
made  itself  instantly  felt.     He  replaced  in- 
competent   favourites    by    rising    and    able 
young  men,  and  what  is  more,  inspired  every 
leader,  naval  and  military,  with  an  ardour 
that  spread  through  all  ranks  of  every  service. 
The  war  against  Canada  now  became,  under 
his  policy,  a  deliberate  crusade  to  drive  the 
French  clean  out  of  the  country.     Even  the 
apathetic  people  of  the  more  southern  colonies, 
who,  for  two  years,  had  tasted  of  the  hitherto 
mythical  Frenchman's  torch  and  tomahawk 
woke  up  a  little.     The  New  Englande-s  and 
New  Yorkers,  in  prospect  of  a  final  riddance 
from  "  The  French  Terror,"  which  always  hung 
over  their  borders,  gathered  fresh  zeal.     The 
year   of   Ticonderoga,    a    one-man    blunder, 
was  Pitt's  first  year.     He  had  left  Abercomby, 
safe,  as  he  thought,  in  an  adviser's  hands, 
those  of  the  young  Lord  Howe,  "  the  best 
officer,"  wrote  Wolfe,  "  in  the  British  army." 
But  Howe  was  shot  dead  while  scouting  the 
very  day  before,  and  so  came  about  the  ensuing 
madness  and  slaughter.    Glorious  and  brilliant 
victory  for  Montcalm  and  the  French  as  was 
Ticonderoga,  it  proved  of  little  use  to  them. 
They  could  not  attempt  to  follow  it  up,  while 
the  mere  defence  of  Canada  was  getting  a 
desperate  business.     For,  in  this  year,  Louis- 
bourg  fell. 

Now  Louisbourg  was  not  in  Canada  proper^ 


OTJAJS'.aMBUr    ifS»'»,n..;»^- 


54 


CANADA 


but  on  Cape  Breton  island,  which  then 
belonged  to  the  French,  though  Nova  Scotk 
of  which  geographically  it  is  „  part  was 
British  territory,  as  yet  thinly  inhabited 
Louisbourg  was  ,  fortified  town  and  harbour 
It  was  so  strong  that  it  was  known  as  the 
Dunkirk  of  the  North,"  and  commanded 

the  Z''t  T,!.™  V^'  ^•'"  °'  St-  Lawrenct 
the  seat  of  French  naval  power  in   North 

^upp[v  !n  :ftr •    ^  ''•'".  °'  °P«««ons  anS 
supply  in  matters  concerning  Canada   it  wa<! 

of  infinite  value  to  the  French  and  perpetual 
annoyance  to  the  New  England  and  Nova 
Scotian  colonists.    In   1745  the  New  S 
landers  alone,   aided  by  British  shins    Wl 
besieged  and  captured  it'^^ith  great  Xt"'' 
It  was  unwisely  returned  to  France  at  t^e 
peace,  and  enormous  sums  had  b^en  since 
lavished  on  its  fortifications.     It  now  hSd  a 
garrison  of  three  thousand  men,  beTides  its 
armed  population,  and  three  thousand  sailors 
manning  several  battleships  in  its  harbour 
Incomplete  attempts  had  been  already  made 
on  It  during  this  war,  but  had  failed  through 
the  dilatormess  which  had  so  far  distingu'shfd 
all  our  operations.  'S^'wea 

In  the  summer  of  1758,  however,  Pitt  sent 
a  well-equipped  and  well-commaAded  fl^t 
la  Tl  *V^''*  '*•  ^'"^  »  possible  Joproc^d 
Srl^"*''"'  ""^^''^ds.'^  Sir  JeffreTAm- 
herst  was  in  command  of  the  troops,  and 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA       55 

James    Wolfe   one   of    his    three   brigadiers. 
After  a  five  weeks'  siege,  accompanied  by  a 
fierce  artillery  fire,  and  no  little  heavy  fighting, 
Louisbourg  surrendered.     Over  five  thousand 
soldiers  and  sailors  were  taken  prisoners,  and 
with   most   of   the   inhabitants,    shipped   to 
Europe,  and  many  battleships  in  the  harbour 
were  destroyed.     Two  years  later  the  town 
and  fortifications  were  rased  to  the  ground, 
and  the  "  Dunkirk  of  the  North  "  was  wiped 
off  the  map.     Wolfe,  just  risen  into  notice, 
clenched  his  reputation  at  this  affair  by  con- 
spicuous dash  and  ability.     The  victory  made 
a  great  noise  in  England.     It  was  the  first 
success  after  three  years  of  hope  deferred  and 
depressing  news,   and  immediately  followed 
that    of    the    catastrophe    at    Ticonderoga. 
Bonfires  were  lighted  and  church  towers  rang 
peals  from  one  end  of  England  to  the  other. 
Amherst,  though  very  thorough,   was  the 
most  cautious  of  "  Pitt's  young  men."     More- 
over the  news  of  Ticonderoga  had  just  arrived, 
so  the  Quebec  scheme,  to  Wolfe's  disgust,  was 
deferred   till    the   next    season.     This    same 
autumn  of  1758,  the  levies  at  last  wrung  out 
of   the   middle  colonies,   with  some   regular 
troops  under  an  able  Scotch  colonel,  Forbes, 
cleared    the    remaining   French    out    of    the 
western  country,  suppressed  the  Indians,  the 
more  easily  that  the  star  of  their  French 
allies  was  obviously   waning,  occupied  Fort 


56 


CANADA 


•'     ■   i 


! 
i 

I 

i 


Duquesne,  and  re-christened  it  Fnrf  p.* 
Upon  its  site  to-dav  stan^rp/ff  t'^'^^P*". 
Birmingham  of  AmeLl  f  k     ^/"^burgh,  the 

British  redcoats  did  thdrfir^f  fl  t?-'  ""^^'^ 
savages,  vanishea  or  sWhtd  b/tt"^  "^^ 
and  flare  of  a  (Tr«-af  rv,!     /    ?    .^  ^'^^  smoke 

flict,  and  he  pltd  ttic^JrP'?"  <'°°- 

money  and  men,  tST'secu^i^.T''  ^^^ 
mand  of  the  sea^  anrf  fK    •  ^f^^ng  the  com- 

Monteal^rowXtVd^i;^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
number  nff  besid<»«  Tt>^.„  ^  "^^  forces, 

thousand  tetalon^t^^^^^^^       iTTh^'^? 
ony.     With  more  than  half  ?hLf  n      k^  "^S^- 
entrenched  himself  at  and  apoufd  O^h ''  ^'^ 
the  strong  citadel  and  key  of  fh?^.'  *' 
If  taken,  Canada  was  ^rtualL        ''°"''*'^- 
so  long  as   it   held   nn^        ^^  conquered; 
was  colpletfd.     xt'^^st'^^/r^f '«  *^^^ 

left  at  and  about  Montreal  L^'"  ^''-'^  ^« 
able  officer   Thf»  Rril ;  u        '  ^^^^^  ^^^is,  an 

«ith  a  flit  an^aX'rl'Vn"''^''  <*"*''«' 
all  their  land  forces  7^  V  Tk  ?*  '*»'  *•»"« 
to  march  under  Amh"f°'*'*  ^J^^<'^  ^ere 
in-Chief,  up  o^^^™*^;^^  of°The°"r°''^- 
routes  on  Montreal     nn  '"^w^derness 

Montreal.    On  paper  the  task  of 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA      57 

the  British  will  seem  much  easier  than  it 
actually  was,  for  there  were  two  great  factors 
against  them,  generally  unfamiliar  to  fleets 
and  armies  of  that  day.  The  one  was  the 
short  season  in  which  everything  had  to  be 
accomplished,  since  both  sea  and  land  routes 
were  closed  by  ice  and  snow  for  six  months. 
The  other  was  the  great  natural  obstructions, 
with  their  possibilities  of  defence,  over  which 
armies  had  to  move. 

Quebec  took  the  more  important  of  the 
two  blows  to  be  struck  in  1759,  and  James 
Wolfe  was  given  the  command  of  the  army, 
while  Admiral  Saunders  had  charge  of  the 
fleet,  whose  co-operation  was  vital  to  success. 
Wolfe,  the  overshadowing  hero  of  the  con- 
quest of  Canada,  was  now  thirty-one.     He  was 
bom  at  Westerham,  in  Kent,  the  son  of  an 
officer  who  had  served  under  Marlborough. 
He  joined  the  army  at  fifteen,  fought  the  next 
year  at  Dettingen  as  acting  adjutant  of  his 
regiment,  and  served  in  several   campaigns 
abroad  as  well  as  in  the  Jacobite  rising  of  1745. 
Without  any  particular  influence  he  was  a 
heut. -colonel    at    twenty-three,   and    during 
the  Peace  of  1748-1756  made  his  regiment 
notorious    for    its    efficiency.     He    was    at 
once  ardently  patriotic  and  severely  critical 
of  our  military  shortcomings.     Tall  and  slight, 
and  of  poor  health,   due  probably  to  hard 
campaigning  at  an  immature  age,   he  was, 


,  -fi 


I  t 


i 


58 


CANADA 


\l 


the  .^^!  f  '  ^^^°*^d  *°  "^a^y  sports,  while  at 
the  same  time  an  ardent  student,  particularly 
of  military  literature.     He  was  so  assiduous 

LI  fTTu""  ^"^^^y  ^^'^^^  for  his  own 
high  Ideal  of  what  an  officer  should  be  that  he 

was  characteristically  regarded  as  eccentric! 

though  generally  popular  and  beloved  by  his 

TerveT^  ^7"^  ^^  ^'^"  ^'  ^^  ^"  ranks  Vho 
served  under  him  in  the  field.     In  short,  he 

was  a  most  umque  personality,  and  we  know 
more  about  him  and  his  short  life  than  about 
many  great  men  of  long  careers,  for  much  of 
his  voluminous  private  correspondence  is  in 
existence,  and  has  been  printed. 

The  capture  of  Quebec  is  a  famous  incident 
impossible  to  do  justice  to  in  brief  compass 
But  happily.  It  has  been  so  widely  written  of 

oni  I     .  ^f""^  1*"°"^^*  '^  b^"^^'  having  only 
one  chapter  for  the  whole  subject,  to  show  the 
Situation  of  North  America  at  that  dayrand 
why  It  was  we  came  to  be  possessed  of  Canada  : 
o  trace   briefly  the  course  of  events  from 
1754,-when  we  had  no  thought  of  acquiring 
that  country,  but,  on  the  contrary,  were  if 
almost   a  panic  for  the  safety  of  our  o^v^ 
colon.es,-to  the  final  expulsion  of  the  French 
power  in  1760.  ^^ -cxcncn 

Wolfe  arrived  before  Quebec  in  May  with 
about  mne  thousand  British  troops  and  a 
few  rangers  on  board  the  first  fleet  of  big 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA       59 

ships  that  had  ever  ascended  the  St.  Law- 
rence;    itseli  a  triumph  of  navigation,  while 
scarcely  a  man,   soldier  or  sailor,   had  ever 
seen  the  place  before.     The  city  stands  on 
the  lofty  point  of  a  long  ridge,   above  the 
angle    where    the    small    St.    Charles    river 
joins   the   greater   St.    Lawrence,    just    here 
less    than    a    mile    in    width.     Immediately 
under    the    city,    however,    it    spreads    out 
into  a  broad   basin,  across  much   of   which 
extends  the  upper  end  of  the  long  island  of 
Orleans.     The  ridge  on  whose  point  the  city 
stands  extends  for  some  miles  up-stream,  in  a 
line  of  almost  inaccessible  cliffs.     Along  these 
summits    at    the    back    of    Quebec,    which 
was  walled  on  the  land  side,  lay  the  open 
plateau,    henceforward    of    world    notoriety 
as  the  "  Plains  of  Abraham."     For  some  six 
miles  below  the  city,   across  the  St.  Charles, 
which  was  bridged,  was  a  line  of  lower  ridges, 
looking   down   on   shallows   and   mud   flats, 
and  terminating  at  the  great  catf  »-d 

wooded  ravine  of  Montmorency,  a  natural 
defence  against  attack  from  down  the  ri  /er  on 
the  north  shore.  In  the  well  protects  I  city 
itself  and  heavily  intrenched  with  batteries 
along  this  ridge  of  Beauport,  Montcalm  lay 
with  fourteen  thousand  men,  and  here  he 
intended  to  remain,  acting  absolutely  on  the 
defensive,  till  winter  should  drive  the  English 
away.    Nothing   should    induce   him  to   be 


60 


CANADA 


i  i  ( 


-     [ 


drawn  outside    and  he  was  quite  sanguine 

^guTar^ith^h-  '"^K^""^   '''«*   *'«'^«"' 
reguiare  witli  him;  the   remainder,  militia 

alLl  T-  T"^/  ""^  "^«'<=''»  '»  thriven 
dd  d«c.phned  troops;  but  behind 
defences  they  were  quite  at  horn/"  and 
practically  as  good  as  any  othe°s     Seten 

Te  SnSLT''  f  ""^  *''«  ^'«fe  *PP«3  to  a 
mor^  meS        ^^^'  ''*  '*""°°«<'  t^°  thousand 

Wolfe  had  under  him  three  good  brigadiers 
Monekton,  Townshend,  and  Murray,  XehS 
bT^I.ZZ  V^l  ^'^  ''"^"y  and'^dSdrJi^ 
wL^  •?  "^  ""■'  ''^"*"«^  opposite  the  city 
where  rt  was  just  within  range  of  his  g?ins 
and  his  camps  on  both  sides  of  the  river  aSd 

fro±.'1r^.  °'  ^''*^"^  '"  mid-str^m  'co^ 
P^  C|if,T  "?t'-«nched  ridges  of  Beau- 
port,  ihe  fleet  Jay  in  the  river  ready  to  assist 
Able  and  eager  as  Wolfe  and  his  bri^S 
aU  were,  brave  Pnd  disciplined  as  w^  the 
troops,    Montcalm's    position    seen  T  more 

f. !?!.•'•  ^^  '*°'*  to  weaken  it  nor  to 
S  ofr'  r '  '*'*  ""*"«'•  The  posJib  e 
and  at  these  Montcalm  could  quickly  con* 
centrate  an  overwhelming  force.^  One  gJeat 
""'"Pt  was  mt  Je  to  storm  the  ridge  of  B^! 

quarte.    fan  hour  on  the  slopes.    The  country 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA      61 

round  was  devastated— a  harsh  but  necessary 
measure.     The  city  was  laid  half  in  ruins,  but 
that  was  of  little  use,  and  Montcalm  would 
not  move.     He  knew  better,  and  was  getting 
confident  that  the  winter  would  save  him. 
The  weeks  flew  by— June,   July,   August— 
and  It  was  now  September.     Sickness  had 
reduced  Wolfe's  force  to  below  eight  thousand 
men.     Every  scheme  had  been  tried,  and  at 
last   Wolfe's   wretched   health   broke  down, 
weakened  by  his  incessant  labours,  and  yet 
more  by  gnawing  anxiety  and  the  prospect 
of    failure    intolerable    to    his    high-strung 
nature.     He  was  at  length  utterly  prostrated, 
and  for  a  day  or  two  the  army,  to  "its 
mexpressible  grief  '*— for  he  was  universally 
beloved— knew  that  his  life  was  in  danger. 

Rallying,  however,  and  sustained  by  will- 
power, excitement,  and  nervous  energy,  he 
left  his  bed  with  his  mind  made  up,  confiding 
his  plan,  however,  to  u^  ^ne  but  the  admiral, 
whose  assistance  was  vital  to  it.  In  pass- 
ing up  and  down  the  river  he  had  marked 
a  scaleable  place  on  the  cliffs  just  above  the 
city,  and  he  had  formed  the  bold  decision 
to  lead  his  army  up  this  in  the  darkness 
of  the  night.  It  is  impossible  here  to  relate 
all  the  dispositions,  so  puzzling  to  his  mystified 
staff,  that  he  made  for  this  seemingly  desperate 
endeavour,  but  they  took  some  days.  It  must 
be  sufficient  that  on  the  night  of  September 


62 


CANADA 


12th  c  had  four  thousand  men  on  board 
ships  ,.v.  ,.  miles  up  the  river,  ready  to  drop 
into  b..at .  and  that  he  only  then  acquainted 
his  ofTicrr  with  the  exact  nature  of  the  task 
beorc  .i:c,„  By  water  demonstrations  he 
hao  ...0.0,  vd  the  two  thousand  French 
stati  .....a  up  the  river  into  a  long  chase  up- 
stream .,  t . n  •  ^.etting  them  for  the  moment  out 
of  his  A-ay.  The  r*^rr>amder  of  his  army  and 
the  sailo  s  nvrioc  ,  ■     astructions  were  banging 

TZ^^\  ''\  ''  -  -"'  feigning  an  intended 
attack,  u-h-e  r  .  .calm  was  absorbed  in 
watchi->j  th  -.r.  V  -thout  a  notion  that  Wolfe 
with  a  big  force  was  up  the  river. 
vuul  complete  success,  he  himself  leading, 
Wolfe  brought  his  boatloads  of  troops  stealth- 

ihl    ^v/"''*'^?";  "^^^^^  *^«  ""'^^^  shadows  of 
the  chffs,  scaled  these  at  the  point  marked, 

without  serious  opposition,  and  in  themornine 

light  presented  to  Montcalm's  astonished  eyes 

the  red  lines  of  the  British  infantry,  drawn 

up  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham  behind  the  city. 

waiting  for  him  to  come  out-for  now  he  had 

^th'tnT-  ^"^  f*  ten  o'clock  Montcalm, 
with  all  his  regulars  and  a  cloud  of  militia 
tirmg  and  shouting,  attacked  the  silent, 
immovable  British  lines.  This  was  the  first 
battle  fought  m  the  open  in  North  America. 
Ihe  enemy  were  met  at  forty  paces,  according 
to  strict  orders,  with  a  perfectly-timed 
smashing  volley,  and  while  staggering  under 


TIIE  COxVQUEST  OF  CANADA      63 

the  blow,  with  a  second  one.    Tlien  the  British 
infantry  sprang  forward   with   bayonet  and 
claymore,    and   drove   the   French   in    wild 
flight,   with  great  loss,   though  not  without 
some    to    themselves,    into    Quebec.     Wolfe 
fell  shot  through  the  breast  while  leading  his 
men  in  the  very  moment  of  victory,  and  as 
he  lay  dying  on  the  field  his  last  and  almost 
only   v/ords,    on   learning   the   completeness 
of  the  victory,  were,  as  all  the  world  knows : 
Thank  God,  I  die  happy." 
Montcalm,  also  mortally  wounded,  died  that 
night.     The   French   army,    with    no   leader 
but  the  inefficient  governor,  Vaudnieil,  lost 
Its  head,  and  with  him  stampeded  up  the 
river    towards    Montreal,    while    the    militia 
scattered  to  their  often  wasted  homes.     The 
city  was  surrendered  to  the  British,  and  left 
for  the  winter  with  a  strong  garrison  under 
General    Murray.     Wolfe's   body   was   taken 
home,  received  with  due  honours,  and  buried 
in    the    family    tomb    at    Greenwich.     The 
excitement    in    England,    where    prospective 
failure  at  Quebec  had  again  depressed  the 
country,  was  tremendous  in  its  rebound,  while 
amid  the  universal  exultation  the  pathos  of 
the  young  hero's  death   was  keenly  felt  in 
every  corner  of  the  land.     Amherst  had  failed 
to  reach  Montreal  that  summer.    Obstacles  of 
transport  and  such  like,  rather  than  military 
rebuffs,    combined    with    his    constitutional 


i 


e4 


CANADA 


caution,    accounted    for    his    failure,    which 
did   not    seriously  matter,  for  Quebec   had 
fallen,  and  French  power  in  Canada  was  in  its 
death-agony.     Levis,    in    conmiand    of    the 
remnants  of  the  French  forces,  struggled  gal- 
lantly, even  making  a  dash   at   Quebec  in 
the  early  spring  of  1760.     But  that  summer 
saw    the    inevitable    end.    Amherst    came 
through  from  the  south,  and  all  the  English 
forces  closed   on   Montreal.    Levis,   with  a 
remnant  of  two  thousand  regulars,  laid  down 
his  arms,  and  was  transported  with  all  such 
Canadians  as  wished  to  leave  the  country— 
not  a  serious  number-— to  France. 

The    Seven    Years'    War,    so    far    as    it 
concerned    North   America,   was   now  over. 
Canada  was  placed  under  military  rule,  and  at 
the  general  Peace  of  1768  was  formally  trans- 
ferred to  the  British  Crown.    At  this  glorious 
close  of  the  war  the  American  colonies—those 
that  had  done  little,  and  those  that  had  done 
their  best— united  in  a  transport  of  Imperial 
enthusiasm,  such  as  they  had  never  before 
experienced,    and   were   certainly   never   to 
experience    again.    They    had    good    cause 
to.    IJe    "French    terror"    had    vanished, 
and  the  present  and  future  of  the  whole 
country  was  theirs.    But  it  had  been  achieved 
mainly  by  British  arms  and  fleets,  and  they 
gratefully  acknowledged  the  fact.    A  small 
party  m  England  wished  to  restore  Canada 


^ 


I 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA      65 

at  the  Treaty  receiving  in  return  the  French 
West   India  island  of  Guadeloupe;    not  so 
much    because    Guadeloupe    exported    more 
valuables  than  the  then  poor  and  wild  Canada, 
but  because  they  felt  that  there  would  now 
be  no  check  on  the  colonies,   and  that  at 
the  first  strain  on  their  loyaltv,  they  would 
break  away  from  the  Mother  country.     Many 
foreigners  who  knew  America  said  the  same 
thing.     We  know  now  what  true  prophets 
these  people  proved.     And  it  is  also  tolerably 
certain  that  with  France  seated  in  Canada, 
the  Americans  would  never  have  ventured 
to   dispense   with   the   protection   of   Great 
Unta-n.     Perhaps  things  are  better  as  they 

^'^u  ^-  V"^  *^*®'  *^®  Dominion  of  Canada, 
with  which  we  are  now  -oncerned,  would  not. 
as  such,  be  in  existence. 


CHAPTER   III 


■) 


FOUNDING   OF  BRITISH   CANADA  BY  AMERICAN 

LOYALISTS 

When  British  rule  began  in  Canada  in  1763, 
that  country  was  but  a  small  community 
of  French  Canadians  on  the  St.  Lawrence, 
with  a  boundless  wilderness  to  the  westward, 
the  control  of  which,  together  with  its  fur- 
trading    stations,    fell    into    British    hands. 
Canada  was  not  then  thought  of  as  a  future 
field  for  British  immigrants,  but  as  a  poor, 
cold,  outlandish  country.     England  regarded 
it  as  a  colony  of  French  people,  who  would 
always  remain  French,  and  her  object  was  to 
treat  them  fairly,  and  attach  them  to  her  rule. 
It    consisted    mainly    of    illiterate    peasant 
farmers,  with  a  handful  of  gentry,  merchants, 
and  priests,  who  possessed  their  own  code  of 
laws  and  a  Church  to  which  they  were  all  in 
complete  and  not  unwilling  spiritual  subjec- 
tion.    Of  political  life  they  knew  absolutely 
nothing,  and  wanted  to  know  nothing.     They 
were  moral,  brave,  hardy,  reasonably  indus- 
trious, light-hearted,  and  unambitious.    Eng- 

66 


i 


FOUNDING  OF  BRITISH  CANADA  67 

land  agreed  to  the  retention  of  most  of  their 
institutions   abolishing  some  slight  hardships 

^L  f  ^  /^^'^'^^    ^^^-     The    American 

colonies  objected  to  this  leniency;  above  all. 

Chutt  Tf^*'°.?  ""^J^'^  ^^"^^^  Catholic 
.hZf'  ^7  ^^'e"^^*  *^^*  t^^«  Canadians 
should  somehow  be  coerced  into  becoming 
i^nglish-speakmg  Protestants.  So  did  the 
few  British  merchants,  mostly  from  the 
American  colonies,  who  came  after  the  con- 

Srea?   '"'   "    *^^'"^    ^*    ^^^^^    -^ 

«„-^^^u ''^^''^  Government  thought  otherwise, 
with  the  result  that   the  Canadians  unde^ 
British  Governors  remained  grateful,  peace- 
&o  "l  iT^'  ti"  the  Wa,  of  Independence 
broke  out  between  England  and  her  American 
colonies.     Among  the  catalogue  of  grievances 
proclaimed    by   the   Americans    aglinst    the 
Mother  country,   was  her  toleration  of  the 
religion   and   laws   of   the   Canadians.     The 
Canadian  peasantry,  utterly  ignorant  of  everv- 
thing  outside  their  own  surroundings,  knew 
nothing   of   this   contemptuous    attitude   of 
their  neighbours,  and  being  incredibly  simple, 
were    cajoled    by    unscrupulous     American 
emissaries,  secretly  despatched  among  them, 
mto    the    belief    that    England's    generous 
treatment  was  a  mere  blind  to  enslave  them 
later  on,  and  that  certain  laws  made  as  a 
concession  to  themselves  were  really  fraught 


68 


CANADA 


f.  1 1 


■A      I 


^•l 


with      sinister  intentions.    So,      when     an 
American  army  made  a  dash  for  Canada  in 
1775,    the   first   year   of   the   war   between 
England  and  her  colonies,  the  rank  and  file 
of  the  militia  refused  to  march.     There  were 
scarcely  any  British  troops  in  the  country 
Canada  was  over-run  to  the  gates  of  Quebec, 
which    was    bravely    defended    through    a 
whole  winter  by  a  motley  force  of  about  twelve 
hundred  French  and  British  volunteers,  with 
four  hundred  regulars,  under  the  governor. 
Lord  Dorchester,  against  the  well-sustained 
and    pertinacious    attack    of    an    American 
force.     The  colony  was  thus  saved,  and  soon 
afterwards  cleared  of  the   enemy   by   fresh 
British    troops    and    never    again    molested 
during  this  war.     At  the  Peace  in  1783  the 
little  French  province  was  the  only  inhabited 
territory  that  remained  to  England  in  North 
America,  except  Nova  Scotia,  then  containing 
a   mere  handful  of   settlers.     Great  Britain 
had  fallen,  as  the  world  thought,  for  ever 
from  her  high  estate.     In   1763  success  in 
every  quarter  of  the  globe  put  her  on  a 
pinnacle  of  greatness,  never  before  approached 
and  perhaps  never  since  equalled.     Now,  in 
1783  she  was  humbled  indeed,  though  destined 
to  recover  with  a  rapidity  few  would  have 
credited. 

French-Canada,  however,  was  progressing 
quite  smoothly,   governed  with   much  con- 


J 


FOUNDING  OF  BRITISH  CANADA    C9 

sideration  in  the  conservative  church-and- 
state  and  semi-paternal  fashion  that  their 
higher  classes,  laymen  and  priests,  and  their 
light-hearted,  prosperous,  unlettered  peasan- 
try were  contented  with,  when  suddenly, 
like  a  bolt  from  the  blue,  the  whole  situation 
of  the  country  and  its  future  was  altered. 

Now,  throughout  the  American  war  a  large 
number  of  people  in  every  colony,  though  more 
m  some  than  in  others,  remained  staunchly 
loyal  to  the  Crown.     The  cause  of  quarrel 
was  not  the  simple  thing  it  is  represented  to 
be  even  m  many  of  our  own  history-books, 
and  in  all  the  more  elementary  American  his- 
tories.    George  III.  was  not  a  monster  laying 
taxes  on  the  poor  Americans  for  the  benefit  of 
England.     The  arguments  for  the  British  side 
of  the  question  were  quite  as  good  as  those 
urged    by    the    colonists,    and    there    were 
thousands  of  the  latter  who  failed  to  see  just 
reason  for  so  serious,  and  as  many  in  those 
days  believed,  so  wicked  an  action  as  taking 
up  arms  against  the  Crown.     Moreover,  they 
saw    little    likelihood    of    thirteen    separate 
and  still  jealous  commonwealths  forming  a 
federation  stable  enough  for  such  a  formidable 
task. 

It  was  this  very  incapacity  to  co-operate 
m  the  financial  and  military  arrangements, 
necessary  between  England  and  her  Ameri- 
can   colonies    after    the    French    war,    that 


J' 


70 


CANADA 


i:        !■■ 


mainly  contributed  to  the  deadlock  which 
exasperated  George  III.  and  his  Government 
mto  levying  those  ill-advised  taxes,  trifling 
as   they   were   in   themselves.     Though   not 
strictly    unconstitutional,    they    nevertheless 
broke  a  tradition  and  frightened  the  Americans 
into  the  notion  that  the  Crown  had  sinister 
schemes  against  their  liberties,  which  was  not 
the  case.     The  colonies  themselves  had  shown 
smce  the  war,  for  which  they  owed  England 
so  much,   an   ungracious  and   impracticable 
spnut,  which    the   British    Government    met 
with  a  sad  technical  blunder.     A  considerable 
mm  irity  of  the  Americans,  though  regretting 
the  King's  action,  and  the  passions  aroused  on 
both  sides  by  it,  believed  it  to  be  only  a 
temporary  expedient,  not  likely  to  be  repeated, 
and  they  were  probably  right.     They  did  not 
believe  a  temporary  blunder  justified  such  a 
fearful  upheaval  as  an  appeal  to  arms  implied. 
These  people  were  mainly  drawn  from  the 
educated  and  propertied  classes.     They  had 
the  courage  of  their  opinions,  and  fought  for 
them  throughout  the  war.     For  many  reasons, 
chiefly  due  to  the  scattered  nature  of  the  popu- 
lation, it  required  more  courage  for  a  man 
to  declare  himself  a  loyalist  than  a  patriot ; 
the  popular  element  being  generally  greatly 
in  the  ascendani-  and  aroused  to  fever  heat 
by  oratory  of  a  one-sided  and  often  grossly 
exaggerated   kind.      Save   in   a   few    wholly 


FOUNDING  OF  BRITISH  CANADA    71 

loyal  districts,  loyalists'  property  was  seized 
almost  at  once,  and  all  belonging  to  them  were 
subjected    to   boycotting   and   the   harshest 
treatment,  which  retaliation,  when  the  oppor- 
tunity came,  made  far  worse.     The  loyalists' 
fighting  strength  was  formed  into  regiments  in 
CroM'n  pay,   and   even  the   non-combatants 
averse   to   the    war   were,  as   it    proceeded, 
gradually  forced  by  cruel  treatment  to  take 
refuge  within  the  various  British  camps  and 
Imes  of  occupation.     At  the  close  of  the  seven 
years  of  fighting,  nearly  a  hundred  thousand 
"  Tories,"  as  the  Americans  called  them,  of  all 
ages  and  both  sexes,  including  the  fighting 
men,   were  huddled  in  the  British  lines  at 
New  York  and  elsewhere,  stripped  of  every- 
thing, land  or  goods,  and  reduced  to  destitu- 
tion.    In  negotiating  terms  of  peace  the  New 
American    Government    persistently    refused 
any  consideration  for  these  people,  whose  only 
crime  had  been  to  fight  for  their  king  and 
against    the    disintegration    of    the    British 
Empire.     In  any  case  the  vindictive  feelmg 
throughout   the  several   states  would    have 
rendered  the  promise  of  a  but  half-established 
Federal  Government  of  slight  avail. 

It  now  remained  for  England  to  do  what  she 
could  for  these  unfortunate  destitute  and 
homeless  people,  who  possessed  little  but 
the  half-pay  of  the  soldiers,  and  very  small 
pensions  for  a  few  widows  and  orphans.    Three 


1 


72 


CANADA 


i  I 

:  f 


millions  were  voted  to  them  by  Parlia- 
ment later,  but  owing  to  the  difficulties  of 
proof  and  complexity  of  claims,  years  elapsed 
before  their  distribution. 

I  have  said  this  much  about  the  American 
war  because  some  forty  thousand  of  these 
loyalists    became    the    founders    of    British 
Canada.     The    truculent    attitude    of   their 
compatriots  towards  them  was  due  to  the 
unbridled  passions  of  a  heated  period,  over 
winch  the  better  minds  had  no  control.     The 
Americans  had  good  cause  at  a  later  day  to 
repent  bitterly  of  their  short-sighted  injustice. 
ISO  modem  American  writer  of  repute  ever 
thinks  of  seriously  defending  it,   while  the 
difficulties  of  the  British  Government  before 
the   war   are   better   understood   and   more 
intelligently    sympathized    with    by    recent 
historical  writers  in  America  than  is  generallv 
the  case  in  Great  Britain.     The  thunders  of 
Whig  and  Tory  orators  at  one  another  in  the 
House  of  Commons  at  the  time  were  largely 
mspired  by  party  rancour  and  shed  little  light 
on  the  true  difficulties  of  the  situation,  which 
really  lay  beyond  the  Atlantic,  in  the  complex 
nature  of  the  various  colonies  and  the  tem- 
perament of  their  peopI-%  of  which  few  British 
politicians  knew  anything. 

Now  the  obvious  method  of  "  first  air'  "  to 
the  refugees  was  to  give  them  land  some  sre 
under   the   British   flag.    Nova   Scotia,    an 


I 


FOUNDING  OF  BRITISH  CANADA    73 

infant  colony  but  sparsely  settled,  with  its 
capital  established  at  Halifax,  was  a  natural 
selection,   while  experts  had  examined  tho 
Canadian  wilderness  on  Lake  Ontario,  jusc 
west  of  the  French  occupation,  and  reported 
well   of  it.     Lord   Dorchester,    who   by   his 
defence  of  Quebec  had  saved  Canada  during 
the    war,    was    the    Commander-in-Chief   in 
America,  now  intrusted  with  the  withdrawal 
of  the  troops  and  the  harrowing  and  otherwise 
arduous  task  of  shipping  this  host  of  refugees 
to  the  wild  forests,  where  they  had  to  begin 
life  again.     About  thirty  thousand  in  all  were 
conveyed  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  destined  to  be- 
come the  virtual  founders  of  that  colony.  Lands 
were  allotted  according  to  rank  and  other 
conditions,  and  each  shipload  or  convoy  was 
dumped  into  the  woods  with  a  supply  of  axes, 
necessary  farming  implements,  some  material 
for  house  building,  and  a  guarantee  of  two 
years'    provisions    from    Government.     But 
Nova  Scotia  must  be  left  for  another  chapter, 
when  the  hardships  endured  by  these  enforced 
pioneers  and  founders  of  that  and  the  neigh- 
bouring provinces  will  be  again  referred  to. 

In  the  meantime  the  lesser  group  of  these 
United  Empire  loyalists,  as  they  were  called, 
a  term  which  all  alike  carried  proudly  into 
exile,  were  settled  in  a  very  similar  manner 
in  the  wild  woods  of  Upper  Canada,  as  it 
came  to  be  known,  of  Ontario,  as  it  is  known 


it 


74 


CANADA 


H 


^ 


to-day.     Rough  preparations  were  made  at  a 
spot  which  afterwards  grew  into  the  city  of 
Kingston,  upon  Lake  Ontario,  while  surveys 
were  made  from  thence  eastward  aJong  the 
!5t.   Lawrence  towards  Montreal,   and  west- 
ward   along   the    shores    of    Lake    Ontario. 
Another  beginning  on  a  smaller  scale  was 
made  at  Niagara,  then  a  fort  and  depSt  of  the 
Canadian  fur  trade.     This  last  had  been  a 
British  base  of  operations  in  the  war  just 
terminated,  and  was  now  to  be  settled  by 
the  irregular  loyalist  soldiers  of  New  York 
Mate,  who  had  operated  from  there.     Between 
eight  and  ten  thousand  was  the  total  number 
of  this  memorable  body  of  brave  men  and 
women  who  founded  Upper  Canada— British 
Canada-just    ls    their    comrades    founded 
the  maritime  provinces,  to-day  all  united  in 
one    Dominion.     Like    the    Nova    Scotians, 
they,  ,n  great  part,  consisted  of  disbanded 
eolomal    regiments    with    their   families.     It 
was  necessary  to  place  them  quite  outside  the 

S^n^?  ^?^*^y\  '^o*  «ierely  because  of 
almost  certain  disagreement  as  near  neigh- 
bours but  for  the  still  stronger  reason  that 
the  State  religion  and  the  semi-feudal  land 
laws  of  French  Canada,  of  which  more  will  be 

Rnf  V  i:^%^^  '^^^  propinquity  impossible. 
But  French  Canadian  civilisation  stopped  at 
Montreal.  ^It  had  more  than  enough  room, 
between    that    city    and    the    down-riy« 


II 


FOUNDING  OF  BRITISH  CANADA    75 

seigneuries  below  Quebec.  It  was,  moreover, 
stay-at-home  in  habit,  and  regarded  Upper 
Canada  as  a  blank,  except  for  the  fur  traders 
and  voyageurs.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  these 
wild  forests  proved  a  much  better  country 
than  Lower  Canada  (Quebec).  But  the  early 
sufferings  and  trials  of  the  loyalists  were 
terrible — worse  than  in  Nova  Scotia,  for  here 
they  were  utterly  cut  off  from  the  world. 
Kingston  was  over  a  hundred  miles  beyond 
Montreal,  the  frontier  of  Lower  Canada. 
There  were  no  roads  through  the  dense 
forest  that  covered  the  intervening  space. 
The  St.  Lawrence  was  unnavigable,  even  in 
summer,  owing  to  the  rapids  at  certain  points, 
while  Lake  Ontario  was  still  a  sea  of  the 
dead.  Like  the  rest  of  the  loyalist  refugees, 
most  of  these  people  had  been  in  good  cir- 
cumstances, numbers  of  them  persons  of 
high  position  and  liberal  education  in  their 
several  colonies.  And  now,  axe  in  hand,  they 
had  to  hew  clearings  out  of  the  dense  forests, 
upon  which  to  raise  a  bare  subsistence, 
forests,  too,  alive  in  summer  with  maddening 
hosts  of  mosquitoes  and  other  pestilent  flies, 
and  in  winter  bound  fast  with  snow  and  ice. 
Market  facilities,  and  even  a  sufficiency  of 
crops  to  send  to  market,  were  years  distant. 
These  people,  also,  were  supplied,  though 
from  inexperience  very  inefficiently,  with 
Government    rations.     They   had    very   few 


76 


CANADA 


I 


animals,  and  many  of  these  died  of  starvation 
Fv^ft  ^^*^\*\s^ve  their  owners  from  it! 
Jwen  those  who  had  some  money  had  httle 
chance  of  usmg  it  for  lack  of  anything  to  buy! 

f^r tnfif  ^T""'**^^'^  ^^*^  ^y  P^rl'-ameni 
for  confiscated  property  and  losses  took  some 

proved"  individual  whose  claim  was 

^is  first  wave  of  United  Empire  loyalists 
irnnTl  ""f^  associated  with  the  years 
1788-4,  Strongly  remforced  by  svmDathizem 
straggling  in  a  little  later  from^varKsta^ 

?anadk  ""^^^  *^'  '""'^^^'^^  ^'  «"*^h 
h«H  c  •«  !"^  "'''''"®  position,  as  men  who 
had  sacrificed  everything  for  their  devotion 
to  the  E  j^^  ^^^  ^^^  ^^^  ^^j^ 

of  the  setthng  of  this  hitherto  unexplored 
wdderness,  and  had  been  themselvS  S 
earliest  pioneers,  gave  them  a  strong  sense 
of  espnt  de  corps.     It  is  no  wonder  thit  they 

thl5^''  ^i'^'^^".  ^^*^"  ^^^"^  considered 
themselves  its  particular  and  privileged  in- 
heritors, as  they  slowly  won  their  way  to  a 
rude  competence,  and  ultimately  to  all  the 
reasonable  comforts  and  advantages  of  civi! 
lization  This  attitude  on  their  part  was  s^L 
provoked,  for  the  great  fertUity^of  the  ha^ 

TnH  tllT  ^^^"^^  '^'^''^y  ""^'^^  abroad, 
and  the  Government,  responding  to  demand? 
practically  opened  Upper  Canida  aXihe 
southern  untouched  portions  of  Lower  Canada 


FOUNDING  OF  BRITISH  CANADA   7T 


if 


I'i 


■■"i 
11 


to  all  and  sundry.  These  demands  did  not 
come  from  Great  Britain.  Emigration  to 
North  America,  as  we  understand  it,  except 
from  Ulster,  had  been  insignificant  for  a 
hundred  years.  Only  Highlanders  and  Ulster 
Protestants,  for  particular  reasons  connected 
with  their  home  conditions,  had  been  crossing 
the  Atlantic  in  any  strength.  England  wanted 
all  her  people.  Constant  wars  taxed  her 
supply  of  men,  nor  did  any  urgent  conditions 
of  home  life  force  them  away,  while  above  all 
the  authorities  were  stror.gl  against  emij^ra- 
tion.  England,  English-speakiiicf  S-'oilanJ,  and 
Roman  Catholic  Ireland,  were  nothing  as  yet 
to  Canada  in  this  sense.  She  was  nctually 
founded  by  American  loyalists,  and  was  to  be 
carried  far  on  her  course  mainly  by  other 
Americans  of  no  views  at  all,  except  a  desire 
for  good  land  at  a  nominal  price. 

Upper  Canada  was  proving  a  better  country 
than  any  at  that  moment  open  to  emigrants 
from  the  New  England  States,  which  were 
then,  be  it  remembered,  nearly  two  centuries 
old,  and  provided  ^vith  a  surplus  population. 
On  the  invitation  of  the  British  Government 
at  Quebec  they  swarmed  in  by  thousands. 
Admirable  settlers  they  made  too,  ready  to 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  or  any  oath,  and 
keep  it,  for  a  good  homestead,  after  the  manner 
of  the  American  settlers  now  swarming  into  the 
North-West.     The  United  Empire  loyalists. 


78 


CANADA 


I 


t 

g 


I 


r 


in  their  own  townships  and  counties  resenf^rl 
this  influx  strongly/but  were  stirtoo'po^r 
and  strugghng  to  do  more  than  utter  from 

evfl     fc^  *^"r°^^   dark  prophecies  o 
Fn^UcJ      ^'^^''^  ^y  ^''^1   twenty  thousand 
Enghsh-spcaking  settlers  outside  the  French 

lovaS  the'r?'  ^"^^^^  ''''  ^-^^^  Emigre 
loyalists  there  were  a  considerable  nurr  h^r 

of  German  and  Highland  settlers  and  Sers 

from  the  old  colonies.     It  was  full  time  now 

to  consider  some  definite  form  of  goveTiLen^ 

for  these  people,  and  so  it  wasTcTdT^o 

£.mpire    loyalist    settle        as    well    «c    i  ♦■ 
Americans,   cried   out  lou^v  If  \-       **^'" 
ticiJ^ly  as  the  experime^fof  1ivh4"reC" 
sentatjve  Government  to  Lower  Can^o   ,   it 

of  representative  Soylrnmtt^tZTL^^Z 
at  Its  ancient  capital  of  Quebec  ,rith«nth2 
d,gn,t.es  of  an  old  and  no,l!  popuC fprol  „,«" 
Upper  Canada  jn  primitive  fashion  a^  the 


tHRSSiyZSMl^ 


FOUNDING  OF  BRITISH  CANADA   79 


backwoods  village  of  Niagara  (otherwise 
Newark),  with  twenty-six  homespun-clad, 
travel-stained  legislators,  in  a  wooden  hall, 
under  Lieutenant-Governor  Simcoe,  an  English 
soldier  who  had  commanded  a  loyalist  regi- 
ment in  the  war.  The  Quebec  Parliament 
was  mainly  French  and  utterly  inexperienced, 
and  was  under  the  able  Lord  Dorchester,  now 
for  a  second  time  Governor  of  Canada,  but 
of  a  greater  and  more  significant  Canada. 
The  little  Newark  Parliament,  on  the  other 
hand,  though  rustic  and  primitive  in  access- 
ories, possessed  the  instinct  and  capacity  for 
self-government  bred  in  the  bone. 

Twenty  years  were  now  to  pass  away  before 
Canada's  great  and  devastating  war  (1812)  with 
America  closed  the  first  chapter  in  her  history, 
and  began  another.  The  period  of  eiastence 
as  a  French  province  governed  by  British 
officials,  followed  by  the  excitement  of  the 
Revolutionary  War  and  the  crowding  of 
British  armies  on  Canadian  soil,  and  then 
the  confusion  of  the  sudden  influx  of  a 
large  British  population,  was  over.  All  now 
was  in  order,  and  the  new  machinery  was 
set  going  for  the  twenty  years,  1792  to  1812, 
that  form  a  period  quite  to  itself.  For 
Upper  Canada,  practically  cut  off  from  its 
neighbour,  it  was  a  period  wholly  of  develop- 
ment. Politics  counted  for  almost  nothing 
in  comparison,  and  need  not  be  touched  upon 


m 


80 


CANADA 


*!       i 


or  less  reeuJated  h^   ^PP^^^al  of,  and  more 

more,  however  h*»  L^  Kl        f  ^^^*  »« 

^.  early  trXin^h^eto'^"  HeTS^J? 

Uiem.    The  advantageous  plac«,   too,   had 


FOUNDING  OF  BRITISH  CANADA    81 

fallen,   and  rightly  fallen,   to  his  lot.     The 
settlements  to  the  east  and  west  of  King- 
ston,  and  around   Niagara,   were  becoming 
*  continuous  chain  of  farms.     Communica- 
tions   had    been    opened,    stores    and    mills 
erected,  and  as  the  American  shor.    of  Lake 
Ontario  was  rapidly  settling  up,  its  waters 
began  to  be  flecked  with  the  first  wings  of 
commerce.      Moreover,     the     compensation 
money  from  the  British  Government  had  been 
commg  in  to  relieve  the  higher  class  of  the 
loyalists,  and  enable  them  to  take  that  lead 
m  affairs  which  education  and  former  ex- 
perience rendered  inevitable.     Lastly,  a  new 
and   rapidly   growing    province   required    a 
considerable  number  of  officials,  and  by  virtue 
of    fitness   as    well    as    deserts,    such   posts 
when  not   given   to   Englishmen—incapable 
persons  with  family  or  political  interest  as  they 
sometimes  were— fell  naturally  to  the  loyalist 
settlers.      Their  distrust    of   the  Americans 
was   only   natural      At   the   French   Revo- 
lution, and  after  it,  one  of  the  two  political 
parties    in    the   United  States,— fortunately 
the    Outs,    led    by    Jefferson— flattered    by 
a  Revolution  that  seemed,  in  part,  the  off- 
spring of  their  own,  worked  themselves  up 
into  a   chronic   frenzy   of    hatred   and    ill- 
will    and    quite    illogical    abuse    of    Great 
Britain.     An    outburst    of    Frenchified    and 
fantastically  un-American  Republicanism— a 


82 


CANADA 


[■■ 


j'   i 


I'  I   I 


iiM     ( 


grotesque  caricature  of  the  Gallic  things 
seized  on  the  middle  and  southern  states, 
and  a  re-awakened  hostility  towards  Great 
Britain  pervaded  half  the  Union.  It  may  b^ 
fairly  set  down  that  for  the  greater  part  of 
this  first  twenty  years  of  Anglo-French 
Canada,  till  the  blow  fell,  war  with  the  United 
States  was  possible  at  any  moment.  So  it 
IS  not  surprising  that  this  filling  up  of  Ontario 
with  Americans  aroused  remonstrance  and 
smister  forebodings  among  the  United  Empire 
loyalist  population,  though,  of  course,  it  in- 
creased the  value  of  their  property  and  pro- 
moted the  growth  of  many  villages  and  little 
towns  of  which  they  were  very  often  the 
proprietors. 

But  the  British  Government,  through  their 
representatives,  unbiassed  by  the  deep  pre- 
judices of  the  loyalists,  had  probably  taken 
the   measure   of   risk   for   and   against   this 
allotment  of  Crown  lands  to  Americans,  and 
the   result   justified   them.     Some   of   these 
incomers,    too,    were    inoffensive    Germans 
and    Quakers    from    Pennsylvania.      Many 
Americans,    again,    were    really    dissatisfied 
with  their  new  Government,   or  distrustful 
of    its    stability,    apparently    not    without 
cause.     Numbers,  no  doubt,  cared  nothing  for 
what  might  well  seem,  to  a  backwoodsman, 
the  distant  doings  of  this  or  that  Government. 
The  financial  state  of  America,  too,  was  very 


FOUNDING  OF  BRITISH  CANADA   83 


shaky  and  quite  unsettled.  Independence 
had  naturally  brought  its  burden  of  novel 
taxation  by  a  new  central  Government  at 
Washington,  and  produced  unquestionably  a 
certain  reaction  that  made  many  people  in 
rural  districts  almost  look  back  to  their 
former  condition  as  British  subjects  as  to 
"the  good  old  days."  This  was  inevitable 
and  mere  human  nature.  Great  Britain  was 
still  powerful  and  rich,  and  Canada,  it  might 
well  be  thought,  must  gather  stability  from 
connection  with  her.  Lastly,  the  dislike  of 
England,  already  alluded  to,  was  far  stronger 
in  the  States  to  the  southward  than  in  those 
adjoining  Canada,  from  which  most  of  the 
immigrants  came.  At  the  same  time,  there 
was  undoubtedly  a  strong  element  of  danger 
in  so  heterogeneous  an  incursion,  and  to  some 
extent  it  showed  itself  in  later  politics  and  in 
the  war  of  18)2.  But  one  great  safeguard 
lay  in  the  scattered  nature  of  these  settle- 
ments. Men  buried  in  the  virgin  forests  of 
Canada  in  small  groups  or  at  long  distances 
from  each  other,  in  the  first  arduous  struggle 
for  existence,  were  at  an  infinite  disadvantage 
for  any  sort  of  serious  mischief,  even  when 
such  was  in  their  thoughts.  The  United 
Empire  loyalists  on  the  other  hand,  particu- 
larly the  more  leading  people  among  them, 
were  by  now  out  in  the  daylight,  concentrated 
in  close  settlements,  and  not  only  acquiring 


84 


CANADA 


official  influence  in  the  colony,  but  by  virtue 
of  means  and  ability,  securing  the  leld  "n 
commercial  and  professional  iL     By  IsiS 

^^^S^^'  ^  hShertoYesot?^ 
a  ^«.rT/^''^'^t^^^'  ^^  *^«  meantime,  led 

capital,  had  grown  from  a  population  of  eight 
thousand  to  twice  or  thrice  that  size   whJe 

^umS  ''a^'°^^^^^  ^"^*  with  vJ^rsimUa: 
S?,SZ.  •  J^^  Governor-General  raided  at 
of  fiSir  K  'TT^  command  over  the  whole 
of  British  ]\orth  America,  including  the  now 
rapidly  growing  maritime  provinces      He  had 

wltnt^Jnr.^^T  r'  '^^^^^  eontrov:S 
iWitIw//n  .^"^  states   over  the  questions 

^th  Tifi  J""'"  u^^^'^^y  '^"^«d  countries, 
with  ill-defined  spheres  of  action  in  a  wild 

far  west,  to  say  nothing  of  still  unsettl^ 

cime,    too.   he   was   never   supplied   with   a 

nafulT  .^^"^r'  ^?^  ^"^^^^^d  from  the 
natural  conviction  that  in  case  of  war 
Canada  must  fall  a  prey  to  her  more  powerful 
neighbour.  "  Representative  Government  » 
had  worked  badly  at  Quebec.  The  Sed 
assembly,  mainly  French,  had  quickly  fa™ 
to  fractious  habits.  Clever  as  many  members 
were,  they  were  withoutparliamenta'^yinSinc 


li 


1.   ! 


FOUNDING  OF  BRITISH  CANADA   85 

and  tradition,  and  moreover  possessed  what 
looked  like  a  real  grievance. 

Now  the  constitutions  given  to  both  pro- 
vinces were  nominally  counterparts  of  that 
of     Great     Britain.     Speaking     broadly     a 
Governor  represented  the  King,  a  Legislative 
Council    elected     for     life     by    the    Crown 
represented    the    House    of    Lords,    and    a 
popularly  elected  chamber  was  a  more  exact 
equivalent  of  the  House  of  Commons.     But 
there  was  as  yet  in  the  Canadian  provinces 
no  ministry  appointed  from  both  Houses  in 
agreement  with  the  majority  in  the  Commons, 
and  responsible  to  the  country.     The  Execu- 
tive was  chosen  from  the  Legislative  Council 
literally  by  the  Crown  or  Governor,  not  under 
the  advice  of  ministers.     This,  though  super- 
ficially resembling  the  British   constitution, 
was  a  very   different   thing   indeed,   and   is 
generally  known  as  "  Representative  Govern- 
ment."    The  completer    form,   as    practised 
in    experienced    England,    and    known    as 
*'  Responsible  Government,"  was  not  due  for 
some  time  yet  in  Canada.     The  old  American 
colonies  to  be  sure  enjoyed  only  Represen- 
tative Government,  but  their  situation  had 
been  quite  different.     The  Governor's  Council 
were  usually  bred  and  born  colonists  in  general 
sympathy  with  the  elected  assembly.     Above 
all,  the  latter  had  full  power  of  the  purse,  and 
if  they  objected  to  any  proposed  action  of 


;   i» 


i 


I 


t 


'. ,  I 


86 


CANADA 


w   li   .  ''^'"S  ■"'  '«'"y-    This  had,  in  fact 
It  did  not  affect  the  domestic  welfare  of  th« 

and  fl^Jll  ™^  ''■'""  *he  Mother  country, 

nfv^l^Z'  ""  '^  -"'-huting  factor  to  t^e 

rtra^ot^s'-^ot^^^^^^ 

so  the  earlier  colonial  assemblies  ^rHtrt 

terin.  f  W*'"'"  ''*'"'*'"«  "«='«««"  for  reg^! 
&  But  "^r  P^l^-^^hly  the  popular 
leSsSo«^nf  *  ''"'*'  French-Canidian 
k^^<°  iT:^  ,   °"'    ««°f"«ys.    and    shop. 

The  m..mV^      t     "°  asP'rations  whatever. 

thdr^na^f;-  ''°'''^*'''.  ^"^'y  ""ade  "P  for 
weir  unambitious  constituents,  and  asnired 
to  nothing  less  than  the  full  powcTs  oft^ 
British  House  of  Commons.*^  N^.thev 
demanded   more,    for   they   were   natuStv 

JKXf  •  '"'t  *"*  not^^fulirundelS 
the  Br  tish  constitution  or  the  limits  which 
rt  mercifully  laid  even  on  a  House  of  CommoT 
To  have  given  a  small  colony  of  A™X: 
S^ons  Responsible  Government  would  hive 
been  premature,   but  to  have  given  it   to 


ii^ 


. 


FOUNDING  OF  BRITISH  CANADA    87 

one  overwhelmingly  French  in  numbers,  and 
singularly  lacking  in  political  temper  and 
experience,  in  the  presence  of  an  intelligent 
British  minority,  would  have  been  madness, 
even  on  an  island  removed  from  the  world's 
alarms  by  which  Lower  Canada  was  sur- 
rounded. The  French  Revolution,  with  its 
blatant  atheism,  had  naturally  disgusted 
the  Cana^lian  Catholic  Church  and  a  majority 
of  its  laity,  who  were  very  conservative  in 
instinct  and  staunchly  Catholic.  But  a 
certain  class  of  young  men  in  the  cities 
had  been  tainted  with  its  worst  principles. 
Moreover  Republican  France,  now  in  close 
relationship  with  one  of  the  two  parties  in 
Republican  America,  began  to  send  out  secret 
emissaries  among  the  ignorant  Canadian  habi- 
tants, who  had  gathered  nothing  in  worldly 
wisdom,  though  much  in  worldly  welfare  and 
prosperity  since,  in  1775,  they  had  nearly  given 
Canada  over  to  the  Americans,  who  would  ha  ve 
contemptuously  crushed  out  of  existence  all 
that  they  cherished.  Insinuating  proclama- 
tions were  now  posted  up  in  public  places 
throughout  the  lower  province  from  "  The 
French  of  France  to  their  brothers  in  Canada.^* 
American  immigrants  had  been  coming  in 
to  the  wilderness  country  south  of  Quebec, 
between  the  French  districts  and  the  American 
border,  on  the  same  conditions  as  the  others 
had   gone    into    Upper    Canada.      Together 


A 


i 


88 


CANADA 


\i 


about  th^y  ihousal^  '""»''f«l  i"  1812 
hundred  and  fiftv  ?^n  '  ^'i!"*  "''°<'t  « 
American  ^ttlers  ^n  T°  """l.  ^'^'^^-  "^^ 
less   disapp^vS^'fl"  ^r'  r^*?*^  '^<"'*d 

loyalists  aShe  other  Brifeh  in  ?h.f  ^^'"P™ 
For  owinir  to  nnlit.jTi  k-I?      °'°**P'°^nce. 

betweSTren?h  1^^  TT^'  ""*  "'»«°«» 
strained,  thS^the  ,aM.f "^''.''''  "*«  "»«'  '<> 

numeric^  disadvanti-  ''""«,  "'  ™"=''  g^«»t 
acc«.im„  a'saavantage,  welcomed  everv 
accession  of  racial  strength  while  thl  .^^™ 

they  we«  incline!  to^™Ikf!"*'"''J°"*y' 
with   their  countrv™.„     ^    common  cause 

earlier  undrdfct  t^di^ns''"  M  '" 
causes,  impossible  to  enter  ^f^T  ^"^ 
contributed  to  exasner.ftTif."'*'  ''*"•  ^^ 
one  another."  Th^Xev':  'T^^Tt  Tl^ 
be  remembered,  it  was  fnr  f  i,?'  f ''°"''' 
only  in  Ouebec    tL         if  **"*  "o^t  part 

alrildy  X'*;op'urou?'"^at  To"  *'°"'^"^- 

Sdrits*e1f    rf  «  'irelcIt^S 
Catholic   ^,  -,-    a   STp^^J 


r'-VsSJf^.:* 


•*. 


FOUNDING  OF  BRITISH  CANADA  89 

politics  and  their  gratitude  to  the  Crown 
kept  them  absolutely  loyal.  There  was  not 
so  much  actual  disloyalty  as  rather  a  violent 
quarrel  between  the  two  races.  The  country 
British,  energetic,  active  farmers,  in  a  hopeless 
minority  in  the  legislature,  bitterly  resented 
what  seemed  to  them  a  continuous  expenditure 
I  of  futile  oratory  on  the  rights  and  wrongs  of  the 
I  Assembly,  without  any  attempt  to  promote 
I  those  public  works,  roads,  canals,  and  such 
I  like,  that  were  the  chief  need  of  an  undevel- 
I  oped  country.  An  old  soldier.  General  Craig, 
I  who  Would  have  made  a  splendid  war  governor, 
as  a  peace  governor  only  added  fuel  to  the  fire 
by  dismissing  the  Assembly,  with  a  curt 
lecture  on  their  useless  loquacity  and  waste  of 
the  public  time.  He  went  home  to  die,  and  in 
due  course  Sir  George  Prevost,  an  admirable 
peace  governor,  arrived  to  pour  considerable 
oil  on  the  troubled  waters.  Immediately 
afterwards  the  war  with  America  broke  out, 
and  the  Governor  whose  brief  services  prior 
to  it  were  most  valuable,  though  a  soldier, 
proved  unequal  to  the  greater  task. 

England  was  in  the  death  struggle  with 
Napoleon  when  the  United  States  declared 
war.  It  was  the  act  entirely  of  the  party 
in  power,  that  old  French  party  then  under 
President  Madison,  with  its  chief  strength 
in  the  southern  slave  states.  The  opposition 
was  strongest  in  the  New  England  provinces. 


^CWs^'iA6« 


MICROCC'Y   RESOIUTION    TEST   CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


Ui  112.8 

yo     '""^ 

ilia 

Hi 

IIIM 

JT  1^ 

It   i^ 

ill  2.0 

^     x^PPlIED  IN/MGE 


inc 


1653   East   Main    Street 

Rochester.    New   York         14609       W^A 

(716)    482  -  0300  -  Phone 

(716)    288  -  5989  -  Fax 


90 


CANADA 


which,  hating  Napoleon,  made  open  protest, 
and   fortunately   for   England   and   Canada, 
took  little  part  in  the  struggle,  which  was 
simple  enough,  for  it  was  a  war  of  invasion 
and  aggression  on  the  part  of  their  Govern- 
ment.    The  war  party,  for  no  logical  reason, 
had   been   simmering   with  hostility  against 
England  for  twenty  years.     They  had  now 
a  grievance  in  the  injury  to  trade  caused 
by  the  far-reaching  blockades  that  England, 
in  her  struggle  for  life  with  Napoleon,  and  in 
reply  to  his  measures  of  a  like  kind,  had  been 
compelled  to  proclaim.     The  right  of  search 
for  deserters  on  the  high  seas,  insisted  upon 
by  the  British  Government,  though  in  fact  a 
recognized  practice   from  the  fact  that  any 
Briton  could   become  an  American  citizen, 
caused  inevitable  mistakes  and  great  irrita- 
tion on  both  sides.     Above  all,  however,  the 
war    party  then    wanted    Canada,   and  its 
capture  appeared  a  simple  matter.     Nearly 
one  hundred  thousand  regulars  and  militia 
were  voted  by  Congress.     Thundering  procla- 
mations after  the  style  of  Napoleon,  only  in 
turgid  English,  were  issued  by  the  political 
amateurs  who  were  appointed  to  command  the 
various  armies,  and  the  cry,  "  On  to  Canada  1  " 
was  raised  in  the  middle  and  southern  states 
with  enthusiasm  and  confidence.     The  Ameri- 
cans had  in  truth  been  woefully  misled  by 
some  of  their  own  people  in  Upper  Canada, 


FOUNDING  OF  BRITISH  CANADA    91 

and  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  squabbles  of 
French  and  English  in  Lower  Canada  seemed 
to  make  that  province  an  easy  prey.  It 
was  believed  in  the  United  States,  the  wish 
being  perhaps  in  part  father  to  the  thought, 
that  the  British  of  Canada  were  only  waiting 
an  opportunity  to  throw  off  their  allegiance, 
and  transfer  it  to  the  Republic.  So  the 
Canadians  of  Upper  Canada  were  addressed 
in  language  of  brotherly  compassion,  as 
unwilling  slaves  trampled  under  the  feet  of  a 
tjrrannical  Government. 

The  reader  can,  no  doubt,  imagine  what 
the  loyalists,  who  formed  the  active  leading 
element  and  the  prospective  fighting  strength 
of  the  province,  thought  of  all  this.  The 
Americans  had  decided  first  to  capture 
the  Upper  Province — a  simple  matter  as 
it  seemed — and  from  thence  attack  Lower 
Canada.  In  the  first  place,  the  former  lay 
more  open  to  attack;  in  the  second,  their 
means  for  building  fleets  on  Lakes  Ontario 
and  Erie  were  greater  than  those  of  the 
British.  Lastly,  as  we  have  seen,  the  New 
England  states,  which  adjoined  Lower  Canada, 
virtually  refused  to  take  any  part  in  the  war. 

But,  strangest  thing  of  all,  at  the  declaration 
of  war,  the  French-Canadians  threw  aside 
their  bitter  quarrel  with  their  British  fellow- 
subjects,  and  almost  as  one  man  declared  their 
unsAverving  loyalty.      In  the  former  attack 


...1 


92 


t . 


r 


CANADA 


Z}hT'^^'   thirty-five  years  previously,   it 
quarrel  whatever,  quite  the  contrarv  •  but  thp 

French   n.S1I%i^^ent^r^^^^^^  ::= 

some  notable  exceptions,  owing  to  the 
American  attack  being  '  mainly^  directed 
were  Jess  m  the  fightmg  hne,  than  on  garrison 

^noh.      y^'^'l  '^^^y  ^^^^  wanted,  Ind  on 
such  occasions  behaved  admirably. 

Ihe  case  of  Canada  really  did  seem  hopeless 
T^r^ljere  only  four  thousand  regular  troons 

or  her  iff^-T^^^  ""^  ^^^'^^^  waT^t"  ^ 
for  her  life  m  Europe.     And  no  one  knew  tith 

settlers  in  Canada  would  act.  Unhappilv 
we  have  no  space  here  for  any  account  oUhls 
desperate  and  entirely  successful  three  year? 

c^  odds  ^r^?lf  ^""f  tremendous  nuTer  - 
ca^  odds.  A  noble  and  able  British  officer 
Governor  and  Commandant  of  the  l^ne; 
Province-Major-General  Sir  Isaac  BroSf-!! 
had,  fortunately,  full  charge  of  the  earh^ 
operations.  With  a  force  half  the  sLe  of 
his  immediate  opponents,  he  crossed  the 
boundary  and  captured  the  whole  of  the  first 
Kri  ^''"^ '  r'^hering  two  thousand  five 
hundred  men,  together  with  its  general  at 


!  I 
I  f 


FOUNDING  OF  BRITISH  CANADA   93 

Detroit.  Hurrying  back  to  command  the 
small  force  of  regulars  and  United  Empire 
loyalist  militia  gathered  at  Niagara  to  repel 
a  more  serious  attack,  he  fe)l  dead  in  the 
glorious  victory  of  Queenston  Heights,  where 
the  enemy  were  hurled  back  across  the  river 
with  the  loss  of  one  thousand  men  The  war 
lasted  through  1812,  1813,  and  1814.  The 
principal  scene  of  operations  was  the  thirty- 
mile  frontier  of  the  Niagara  River,  between 
Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario,  and  secondly,  the 
eastern  end  of  Lake  Ontario  about  Kingston, 
and  along  the  St.  LawTence  river  from  thence 
to  Montreal.  Little  fleets  were  built  by  either 
side  on  the  two  lakes,  and  played  their  part 
in  combats  with  one  another,  and  in  convoying 
troops  and  provisions.  The  brunt  of  the 
fighting  throughout  the  '  ar  fell  on  four  or  five 
British  regiments,  nol  'v  supported  by  a  lesser 
number  of  United  1  mpire  loyalist  militia, 
only  thus  limited  because  more  could  not  be 
armed  and  fed.  The  difficulties  of  provision- 
ing fighting  troops  in  that  remote,  scantily 
settled  country,  -vv^here  the  militia  had  to  be 
drawn  during  the  working  season  from  the  very 
men  who  were  needed  to  grow  the  food,  was 
prodigious.  aerican  forces  raided,  burned, 
and  ravaged  portions  of  Western  Ontario  on 
more  than  one  occasion,  but  were  always  in 
the  end  beaten  back,  and  counter-raids  made 
on  American  territory. 


i 


94 


CANADA 


r 


ITie  disparity  in  the  numbers  under  arms 

^almost  absurd  on  paper,  but  the  Ameriern 

m^itia  proved  wcU-nigh  useless.  Their  rSrs 

too,  for  a  long  time  lacked  experience     TW 

TTXtoTV^'"  '"  "'e';-arToek?n^? 

n  'avoitr  ^^    '^l  ^'"'^^  •'«'"«  submerged 

witi    T*-    ■  ^"''"^"■•s  or  incon.petent  men 

wrth  political  influence  at  Washington.    The 

British  regulars,  on  the  other  hand,  were  of  the 

It^I  f?**  '''"''*•     Their  record  through 

arainSLeL  ,?i''*^'  ""''  ''''°^"'°'  fighting 
fhff  »,f  ■  *  '"'''*•  ™'  "o  wh't  inferior  to 
that  of  their  contemporaries  under  Wellin^on 

Zee  thr^r.^^''^  ""''  *•»«  ""^^  creditfble! 
since  the  deeds  of  men  and  officers  out  here 
were  unnoticed.    No  public  eye  was  on  them 

JlfrJl*^  "'^'^  heroism,  and  scarcely  realises 
that  they  savc.I  Canada.  The  Upner  cXrf» 
mihtia  fought  well,  and  with  a  &?na«on 
one  would  e.xpect  of  the  sons  of  a  m"marv 

aSt"S,e'„'"^  ^  ^^">*'"^  tl-^y  he7d  S 
against  men  who  represented  at  that  time 

the    morta     enemies    of    their    stock.    The 

Americans  in  the  Upper  Province  had  refuLd 

to  be  regarded  as  slaves  to  be  rescued   inls- 

rnuch  as,  with  some  troublesome  except  "ns 

th^.remained  neutral.    Those  in  the  & 

Province  were  nearly  all  New  England^" 


ii'jii 

lit? 


FOUNDING  OF  BRITISH  CANADA    95 


and  adjoined  New  England,  which  kept  out  of 
the  land  quarrel.  Toronto,  with  its  public 
records,  was  burnt  by  the  Americans,  to  which 
an  English  expedition  later  replied  by  burning 
the  capital  at  Washington.  At  the  close  of 
the  war  the  Americans  did  not  occupy  a  foot 
of  the  soil  they  had  struggled  for  three  years 
to  conquer,  while  the  British  actually  held 
two  or  three  posts  on  American  territory. 
The  fiercest  battle  of  the  war  was  that  of 
"Lundy's  Lane,"  close  to  Niagara  Falls. 
Hotly  contested  throughout  a  summer  night, 
it  was  left  undecided,  but  the  British  camped 
on  the  field,  and  the  Americans  retired  to 
their  own  side — permanently  as  it  proved. 

There  had  been  several  American  expedi- 
tions in  seemingly  overwhelming  strength 
against  Montreal.  On  each  occasion,  once 
by  a  small  French  force  in  their  front  at 
Chateauguay,  and  on  another  by  a  heavy 
rearguard  attack  of  British  regulars  at 
Chrystler's  Farm,  the  enemy  had  been  forced, 
or  rather  intimidated,  to  a  final  retreat, 
the  disgrace  in  both  cases  being  due  to  utterly 
incapable  leadership.  In  the  year  1814,  when 
Peace  was  made  in  Europe  on  the  abdication 
of  Napoleon,  and  ^he  British  veterans  from  the 
Peninsula  were  set  free  for  American  service, 
the  possibility  of  conquering  Canada  had,  of 
course,  utterly  disappeared.  The  Americans, 
whose  trade  had  suffered  frightfully  during 


r 


■f  i: 


lit 


96 


CANADA 


the  war,  were  heartily  sick  of  it,  and  both 
nations  were  glad  enough  to  conclude  peace 
in  the  beginning   of    1815,    which  virtually 
left    everything    as    it    was    before.      The 
Americans  had  suffered  disastrously  through 
the  entire  stoppage  of  their  sea-borne  trade. 
To  Great  Britain,  the  war,  which  she  had  not 
sought,  had  been  a  side  issue,  but  none  the 
less  damaging,   not  merely  from  the  inter- 
ruption of  her  trade  with  the  United  States 
but  from  the  injury  inflicted  on  her  commerce 
by  American  privateers.     Her  North  American 
provinces  had.  on  the  whole,  benefited  greatly 
in  a   commercial    sense,   as   well    as   in  the 
prestige  gained  by  what,  for  them,  had  been 
a  triumohant  war.     Upper  Canada  alone  had 
suffered  from  its  ravages,  but  then  her  people 
had  reaped  the  greater  share  of  the  glory, 
a  precious  heirloom  that  they  will  never  cease 
to    cherish.     This    war,    together    with    the 
United  Empire  loyalist  traditions  in  which 
British  Canada  was  founded,   accounts  for 
many  things  that  the  modern  English  politician 
and  writer  and  the  holiday  visitor  to  Canada 
cannot    understand.     Neither     oratory    nor 
journalism  deals  with  them,  nor  wishes  to. 
They  are  in  the  "  atmosphere." 


CHAPTER   IV 


,  < 


I 


i 


THROUGH   REVOLUTIO?"   TO   FEDERATION 

It  may  be  noted  that  the  history  of  Canada, 
from  the  time  it  became  a  British  colony 
to  the  present  day,  falls  naturally  into 
three  distinct  periods  of  about  fifty  years 
each.  The  Peace  of  1815  closed  the  first; 
Federation  of  all  the  provinces  in  1867  closed 
the  second,  while  nearly  half  a  century  has 
passed  since  that  day. 

The  first  period  was  full  of  great  events, 
of  war  and  war's  alarms,  and  the  dramatic 
movement  of  large  populations  that  founded 
the  Canada  we  know  to-day.  It  closed  with 
a  fierce  war  in  which  British  and  French 
fought  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  defence  of 
their  common  country,  and  swept  away  the 
injurious  and  widespread  impression  in  the 
world  that  the  British  provinces  were  destined 
to  be  quickly  absorbed  by  the  United  States, 
and  Great  Britain,  like  France,  to  be  expelled 
from  North  America. 

The  second  cycle  found  the  Canadians 
starting  afresh,  amid  a  peaceful  world,  with  a 

D  97 


■|: 


98 


CANADA 


I 


record  of  achievements  botli  in  peace  and  war, 
behind  them,  such  as  few  young  countries 
have  possessed.  Henceforward,  both  Canada 
and  the  United  St  tes  were  to  fall  out  of  touch 
with  European  complications,  and  to  cease 
from  serious  bickeringrs  with  one  another. 
The  United  States  had  discovered  that 
excursions  againsl  Canada  were  not  the 
promenades  that  many  had  beli-ved  they 
would  prove,  but  above  all,  that  war  with 
a  paramount  sea  power  like  England  meant 
commercial   ruin. 

The   Universal    Peace   of   1815,    however, 
opened  altogether  a  new  era  in  Canada,  for 
it  was  only  now  that  British  immigration 
really  began  to  flow  in.     Hitherto,  the  colony 
had    been   regarded    by   the   British    public 
rather  as  or.o  of  the  minor  nawns  in  the  great 
game  of  war.     Now  she  became  all  at  once 
an  object  of  immediate  interest,  as  the  goal 
of  the  great  exodus  from  the  Mother  country 
which  the  Peace  brought  about.     Over  twenty 
years  of  exhausting  war  had  given  Englishmen 
plenty  to  do,  but  the  reaction  at  its  close 
was  very  great.     Thousands  of  soldiers,  for 
one  thing,  were  disbanded,  while  thousands 
of  other  mta  lost  such  employments  as  war 
created,  while  the  fall  in  agricultural  prices, 
which  had  been  very  high,  threw  more  work- 
men adrift.     It  was  an  old  and  convenient 
custom  for  such  countries  as  possessed  it  to 


11 


I 


I 


REVOLUTION  TO  FEDERATION  99 

reward  their  soldiers  with  grants  of  unoccupied 
land.  So  a  great  number  of  retired  naval 
and  military  officers,  as  well  as  of  disbanded 
soldiers,  were  given  grants  in  Canada,  some 
in  the  Lower,  but  mostly  in  the  Upper 
Province.  Other  immigrants  of  all  sorts 
followed.  There  was  an  over-supply  of 
agricultural  labour  at  starvation  wages  in 
England,  and  great  numbers  of  handloom 
weavers  in  the  North  and  elsewhere  were  in 
distress  owing  to  inrprovements  in  machinery 
and  concentration  of  mills  in  the  towns.  The 
Irish  Catholics,  who  were  multiplying  and 
swarming  in  Ireland,  on  the  strength  of 
the  precarious  potato  crop,  moved  very  little 
as  yet  anywhere.  But  from  every  other 
part  of  England  and  Scotland,  Lowland  and 
Highland,  immigration  poured  over  to  Canada 
in  a  steady  s*;ream.  In  some  single  years 
as  many  as  fifty  thousand  souls  were  actually 
landed  at  Quebec  out  of  the  old  crowded  sail- 
ing ships  in  which  the  immigrants  were  con- 
veyed, the  passage  ofteu  occupying  from  two 
to  thrive  months.  They  came  through  various 
channels,  such  as  philanthropic  societies  and 
land  companies,  or  independently  and  at 
their  own  expense. 

Some  went  to  Nova  Sec  ia,  New  Brunswick, 

or  the  English  districts  of  Quebec.     But  the 

great  majority  proceeded  to  tl  e  better  lands 

of  Upper  Canada.     The  difference  this  influx 

02 


100 


CANADA 


i        i; 


made  to  a  province  of  only  eighty  thousand 
population  may  be  imagined.  But  a  point  to 
be  remembered  is  that  the  great  mass  of  this 
inflowing  population  took  for  a  long  time  very 
little  part  m  the  politics  or  government  of  their 
adopted  country.  They  spread  out  among 
the  vast  forests  that  covered  much  mag- 
^i  fiirV^'"'^  J^  *^^  uncleared  back  country. 

cffH^^^?*]'^  ''^^^''*  ^P^^^s  between  the 
settled  districts,  or  again  worked  as  labourers 
for  those  already  established.  The  mass  of 
them  were  poor  people,  without,  in  those  days, 
a  vote  at  home,  and  though  the  franchise  in 
Canada  was  very  liberal,  the  now  comers,  busy 
at  niaking  a  iving,  or  buried  in  the  forests 
cutting  out  the   nucleus   of   homes,  under- 

Sred  S     "     °'  ""^""^  ""^^  ^^^^  ^"  *^^ 

n^n^fTf  fi!^  United  Empire  loyalists  had  done 
most  of  the  mihtia  fighting  during  th  .  war,  and 
as  their  property  lay  along  the  frontier  in  little 
towns  or  farms,  they  had  suffered  most  from 
American  raids.     Even  before  the  war  thev 

nr«li  il'f  T?^  *°  consider,  and  not  unnat- 
urally,  that  Upper  Canada  was  their  special 
heritage.  They  held  this  faith  still  more 
strongly  after  their  victorious  struggle,  and 
disliked  the  Americans  even  more  if  possible 
Uian  before  The  greater  part  of  the  best 
educated  and  well-to-do  people  in  the  Upper 
province,    for   reasons   already   given,    were 


n*  iimu 


1 
4 


REVOLUTION  TO  FEDERATION    101 

United  Empire  loyalists,  and  they  gradually 
det^eloped  a  sort   of  clique  which   vir'^ually 
governed  the  country  and  kept  all  the  officei 
within    its    own    circle.      The    Lieutenant- 
Governors  and  their  officials,  who  came  out 
from   England,    found   themselves   naturally 
surrounded  by  this  class,  since  they  formed 
the  gentry,  as  it  were,  of  the  province,  and 
generally  fell  in  with  their    3int  of  view,  which 
was    a     distinctly     aristocratic     one.      This 
element  was  increased  by  the  number  of  half- 
pay  officers,   who  came  out  as  settlers  and 
sympathized     with     their     anti-democratic 
atmosphere,     while    the    numerous    British 
ganisons    quartered    in    the    country    still 
further  helped  to  sustain  it.     The  Governor's 
Council  or  Upper  House  of  the  Legislature 
was  entirely  chosen  from  this  class,  and  they 
controlled  for  a  long  time  a  majority  in  the 
Lower  House.     But  when  a  growing  popular 
opposition  to  this  state  of  things  resulted  in  a 
popular  majority,   the  Upper  House  threw 
out  all  measures  distasteful  to  it   with   im- 
punity.    The  House  of  Assembly  might  with- 
hold or  threaten  to  withhold  supplies,  but  the 
Governor  and  his  Executive  had  other  mone- 
tary sources  on  which  to  draw  for  necessary 
expenditure.     The  great  dread  of  the  United 
Empire  loyalists  and  their  friends,  otherwise 
known  as  the  Tory  party,  in  Upper  Canada, 
was  of  Republican  influences,  and  the  customs 


il 


il 


102 


CANADA 


'.  n 


I 


H 


associated  with  them.  Of  Americans  them- 
selves they  knew  chiefly  the  worst  side.  Their 
own  savage  treatment  by  them  was  an  un- 
forgetable  testimony  to  it.  The  apparent 
failure  of  the  American  system  in  the  recent 
war  against  Canada  seemed  to  them  another 
object-lesson  in  Republicanism.  The;-  well 
remembered,  too,  how  a  long  continuedpolicy 
of  indifference  en  the  part  of  the  Mother 
country  and  weak  Governors  had  made  pos- 
sible the  Revolutionary  war.  They  believed  in 
a  strong  Government,  unswervingly  devoted  to 
the  British  connection,  and  vigilant  to  keep 
out  American  notions.  And  it  is  only  fair 
to  state  that  at  that  nascent  period  of  the 
Republic  there  were  features  in  its  attitude 
towards  outsiders,  both  as  a  nation  and  as 
individuals,  that  were  no  little  exasperating. 
The  loud-mouthed  and  the  ignorant  were 
very  much  to  the  front,  and  the  ignorance  of 
the  more  ignorant  American,  as  regarding 
all  other  countries,  their  people  and  forms  of 
government,  was  prodigious  and  expressed 
in  exaggerated  and  often  foolish  language,  a 
characteristic  not  yet  wholly  extinct. 

This  party,  then,  or  rather  the  powerful 
group  and  their  friends  which  controlled  it, 
became  known  as  the  "Family  Compact," 
since  many  of  the  principal  Tory  families 
were  more  or  less  connected  by  marriage. 
The  greater  part  of  the  opposition  to  them 


REVOLUTION  TO  FEDERATION    108 

was  at  first  drawn  from  the  American  settlers, 
who  had  outnumbered  the  United  Empire 
loyahsts,  but,  speaking  generally,  had  con- 
ducted themselves  as  peaceful  citizens.  In 
political  life,  however,  they  resented  being 
ruled  by  what  they  regarded  as  an  oligarchy 
with  aristocratic  pretensions  to  look  down 
on  them.  Their  leaders  were  among  the  most 
extreme  of  their  party,  and  made  the  fatal 
error  of  continually  holding  up  American 
institutions  as  a  model  and  even  hinting  at 
support  from  the  United  States.  This  was 
regarded  as  rank  treachery  by  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  Family  Compact  party. 
Though  many  of  these  demands  were  reason- 
able enough  and  most  of  them  at  a  later  day 
became  law,  the  language  in  which  they 
were  sometimes  expressed  was  ill-balanced 
and  tactless,  and  only  calculated  to  inflame 
the  passions  of  the  United  Empire  loyalist 
element,  who  had  not  gone  into  the  wilderness 
and  twice  fought  against  Americans  and  their 
repudiated  principles,  to  have  them  now 
flung  at  their  heads  as  a  model  to  be  emulated. 
But  the  opposition  got  no  nearer  power 
Reasonable  and  democratic  aspirations  became 
identified  with  Republicanism  and  disloyal 
intentions. 

The  Family  Compact  party  in  power  had 
virtually  the  control  of  large  areas  of  wild 
Crown  lands,  and  used  this  for  strengthening 


I 


104 


CANADA 


•I! 

■\ 

t' 

i 


their    own    position,    which    they    honestly 
regarded   as   essential   to   British   rule   and 
traditions.     They    also    took    measures    for 
Sf^''""^  troublesome  agitators  which,  to 
modem  mmds,   seem   harsh   and  summ;ry. 
They    were    not    only    intrenched    behind 
privilege  and  material  power,  but    had  the 
strong  cry  of  Anti-Republicanism,  with  which 
to  rally  the  whole  United  Empire  lovalTst 
rank  and  fUe  and  the  British-born  of  th* 
population.     They  overdid  this  at  last ;   for 

of  th?  nlTl ''  ?V^"  unprivileged  portion 
of  the  old  oyahst  stock  and  the  rapidly 
growing  British  born  population  joined  what 
may  be  called  the  American  element  in 
demanding  that  government  should  be  ad? 
ministered  more  in  accord  with  the  wishes 

rnstalmeT^al  th'  P^^^^^'  ^'^^^  ^  ^^^^ 
n  f K J^  '  ***  }^^  majority  now  acquired 
m  the  House  of  Assembly  should  be  at  lea^ 
represented  in  the  Council  (Upper  House! 
and  Executive.     This    moderate    aspSn 

rwi'thhoin''  ""^  *^°"^^  *^«  usualS'S 
of  withholding  supplies  was  adopted,  it  was 

had  oth^'^   ^^""    ^^"^   *^^  Gov;rnmInt 
had  other  resources,  such  as  Crown  lands 

customs  and  the  subsidy  from  Engknd  that 
was  still  necessary  to  these  young  foCies 
One  obstacle  to  reform  was  That  tSLex- 

S  'flT'*^  >"^"T^'^  predilections  chie^y 
Toiced  them  m  violent  language,  and  that 


REVOLUTION  TO  FEDERATION    105 

was    quite    enough  for  the  Tories  and  the 
Government.     The    Reformers    were    really 
of  two  parties,  the  one  loyal  and  moderate,  the 
other  extreme  and  with  strong  Republican 
proclivities.     An   elected   Upper   House,    an 
Executive  chosen  from  the  popular  majority 
with  a  Governor  carrying  out  its  measures, 
a  form,  in  short,  of  what  is  called  Responsible 
Government,  was  the  extreme  demand.     In  a 
raw  colony,  where  sufficiently  capable  men 
were  naturally  scarce,  and  abounding  in  a 
doubtfully  loyal  element,  this  was  out  of  the 
question.     If   Upper   Canada   had   been   an 
island  in  mid- Atlantic,  it  was  not  yet  ripe  for 
such  a  system,  but  situated  alongside  of  a 
powerful    and    none    too    friendly    English- 
speaking  Republic,  such  an  experiment  would 
have  been  fatal.     The  situation  was  further 
embittered,  too,  by  a  group  of  politicians  in 
England,  who  were  in  favour  of  letting  the 
colonies  go,  and  perfectly  ignorant  themselves 
of  the  complexities  of  Canadian  life,  loudly 
encouraged  the  firebrand  orators  at  Toronto. 
The  Colonial   Office  was  perplexed    by  the 
situation,  and  the  British  Government  blew 
hot  and   cold,  so   far   as    the    politics    and 
instructions  of  successive  Lieutenant-Govern- 
ors despatched  to  Upper  Canada  were  con- 
cerned.    But  it  did  not  much  matter.     Tory 
and  Liberal,   in   spite    of    some    superficial 
resemblance,    meant    a    different    thing    ia 


■ 


Mi 
111 


106 


CANADA 


i 


> 


! 


i 


WW 


Canada  from  what  they  did  in  England. 
English  visitors,  not  long  enough  in  the 
country  to  understand  the  subtleties  of  the 
question,  brought  home  lurid  tales  of  the  state 
of  both  provinces  as  seen  through  the  spec- 
tacles of  their  own  political  proclivities.  It 
became  generally  known  however  that 
political  and  social  affairs  both  were  in  a  bad 
way.  Immigration,  hitherto  large  and  con- 
tinuous, began  to  flag,  and  in  1837  the  extreme 
wing  of  the  reform  party  in  Upper  Canada, 
and  the  much  larger  violent  French  party  of 
Lower  Canada — of  which  a  word  presently — 
broke  out  into  insurrection.  In  Upper 
Canada  it  was  headed  by  a  violent,  pro- 
American  little  Scotsman  named  Mackenzie. 
It  is  enough  to  say  that  it  was  a  fiasco  and 
easily  suppressed  by  the  militia,  but  simmered 
on  mainly  as  mere  brigandage  carried 
on  by  Mackenzie  and  bands  of  followers, 
mainly  rufp.ans  from  the  United  States  side, 
the  Government  of  that  country  displaying  a 
rather  culpable  delay  in  effecting  their 
suppression. 

Mackenzie,  a  newspaper  editor  and  printer, 
was  for  long  the  enfant  terrible  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  Upper  Canada,  and  was  treated  occa- 
sionally with  a  severity  that  only  made  him 
a  greater  hero,  but  a  good  deal  of  reason  was 
mingled  with  a  good  deal  of  madness  in  his 
conduct.     But  he  carried  only  a  fraction  of 


■^w^y  :^':^MS«as* 


■;T*v*««HBMr*«;=*- ; 


REVOLUTION  TO  FEDERATION    107 

the  reform  party  with  him  in  sympathy 
with  his  final  move,  ard  still  fewer  into  action. 
It  is  often  and  truly  remarked  to-day,  that 
nearly  everything  Mackenzie  and  his  party,  vio- 
lent or  moderate,  advocated,  is  now  embodied 
in  the  Canadian  constitution,  as  if  this  were 
a  justification  of  his  methods  and  demands ! 
Such  a  deduction  is  of  course  delusive.  What 
at  one  period  is  only  just  and  obvious,  at 
another  may  be  madness,  and  in  these  early 
struggles  for  popular  government  in  Canada, 
both  parties  were  driven  into  extremes  by  the 
exceptional  circumstances  of  the  settlement 
of  the  colony,  and  the  great  ominous  shadow 
of  the  United  States  perpetually  hanging 
over  them. 

The  Insurrection  of  1837  brought  about 
changes  which  terminated  the  existence  of 
Upper  Canada  as  a  separately  governed  colony, 
a  little  sooner,  perhaps,  than  would  otherwise 
have  been  the  case.  There  is  little  doubt 
however  that  the  conferring  of  Representative 
Government  on  the  French  in  1791  was  a 
mistake.  It  is  quite  true  that  it  gave  them 
forty-six  years  of  experience  before  they,  too, 
broke  out  into  a  yet  more  serious  insurrection. 
But  this  experience  was  at  the  painful  cost 
of  continuous  discord  and  racial  bitterness, 
while  at  the  end  of  it  they  seemed  to  have 
learnt  almost  nothing  but  a  considerable 
measure  of  eloquence.    There  was,  of  course. 


'\ 


I 


i  i 


I  \ 


108 


CANADA 


m  1791  no  comparison  between  the  capacities 
of  the   two   provinces   for   self-government, 
but,  as  it  was  unavoidable  in  the  one  case,  a 
misplaced  sense  of  equity  more  apparent  than 
real  extended  it  to  the  other,  whose  people 
scarcely  knew  what  it  meant.     Another  error 
was  made,  too,  in  the  language  employed  when 
conferring  the  boon.     For  each  province  was 
given  to  understand,  though  such  could  never 
have  been  seriously  intended,  that  they  were 
to   enjoy   the   full   liberties   of   the  British 
constitution;     in   other   words.   Responsible 
Government.     This  was  over  a  hundred  years 
ago.     The  British  constitution,  as  we  know,  is 
not  a  document,  but  a  matter  of  slow  gro\^h. 
Things  were  even  vaguer  then  than  they  are 
now,  nevertheless  the  provinces  had  on  paper 
the  full  form  of  a  British  Government,  a  Gover- 
nor representing  the  King,  an  Upper  House, 
nominated  for  life  by  the  Crown,  and  an  elected 
Lower  House.     But  a  colonial  Governor  had 
more  power  than  the  King  at  home,  while 
the  Upper  House  wts  much  stronger  than  l.ie 
House  of  Lords.     If  these  provinces  got  the 
shadow  rather  than  the  substance,  it  may  be 
remembered  that  even  in  the  Mother  country 
popular  government  had  not  then  developed 
to  what  we  now  understand  by  the  word.     The 
electorate  was  diminutive  in  number  and  in 
scores  of  constituencies  had  no  appreciable 
existence,    while    the    rule    of    a    ministry 


■ffei 


■if^ 


-«v  ■  ♦l; 


REVOLUTION  TO  FEDERATION    109 

(Executive  it  was  called  in  the  colonies)  repre- 
senting the  popular  majority  of  the  moment, 
was  hardly  an  established  principle.  The 
power  of  the  purse,  conclusive  in  England, 
was  another  matter  in  a  new  country  which 
the  British  Government  still  subsidised,  and 
where  the  Crown  owned  large  undeveloped 
properties.  But  at  any  rate  the  Canadians  of 
both  provinces  could  plausibly  interpret  the 
charter  of  their  constitution  as  meaning  a 
great  deal  more  than  the  Crown  had  actually 
intended,  or  would  have  been  right  in  in- 
tending, at  that  moment. 

The  hope  of  a  better  understanding  in  the 
Lower  Province  arising  out  of  the  war  of 
1812-15  soon  vanished.  The  French,  an 
overwhelming  majority  in  the  popular  House, 
continued  to  devote  their  entire  energies  to 
obtaining  control  of  the  colony.  Nearly  all 
the  commercial  wealth,  which  created  home 
markets  and  provided  channels  to  outside 
markets  for  the  French  peasant  farmers,  the 
bulk  of  the  Ft,  rich  population,  was  in  English 
hands  and  created  by  English  enterprise. 
Fifty-thousand  British  agriculturists  in  their 
own  districts  of  Lower  Canada  were  equally 
in  advance  of  the  illiterate,  unprogressive 
French  habitant.  Little  attention  was  paid 
in  this  eloquent  assembly  to  those  public 
works  for  facilitating  developments  that  are 
the  life-blood  of  new  countries,  and  in  which 


If 


a 


110 


.|.r 


CANADA 


in  this  case  the  welfare  of  the  Upper  Province 
that  lay  behind  was  also  involved. 

The  methods  and  characteristics  of  the 
French  majority  were  a  sufficient  testimony 
of  the  use  they  would  make  of  such  power 
should  they  be  able  to  cStain  it.  But 
with  the  whole  of  the  enterprise  in  every 
department  of  industry  in  the  hands  of  the 
British,  it  was  not  likely  that  a  Government 
at  the  beginning  of  the  19th  century,  who 
had  planted  thousands  of  British  settlers  in 
the  province,  would  deliver  them  over  to  a 
half-fledged  assembly  of  French-Canadian 
Catholics. 

Great  Britain  had  in  fact  made  a  grave 
mistake  in  rushing  the  province  into  popular 
Government,  and  was  now  reaping  the  fruits. 
The  politicians  were  largely  young  doctors, 
lawyers  and  journalists,  filled  with  theories 
derived  at  second-hand  from  the  British 
constitution,  the  French  Revolution,  and 
the  American  democracy.  The  bulk  of  their 
constituents  were  peasants,  who  could  rarely 
read  or  write,  who  were  quite  ready  to  be 
entertained  in  the  country  by  inflammatory 
speeches,  cared  for  nothing  outside  their 
parishes,  lived  in  much  rude  comfort,  and 
hadn't  even  the  shadow  of  a  grievancs.  The 
French  politicians,  however,  were  not  satisfied 
with  demanding  the  full  rights  of  the  British 
Parliament,    which   none   of   the   politically 


REVOLUTION  TO  FEDERATION    111 

educated  British  provinces  had  yet  been 
given,  but  they  even  demanded  an  elective 
Upper  House,  which  would  ha/e  amounted 
in  this  case  to  single  chamber  government 
in  the  French  interest.  Compromise,  which 
in  the  past  has  been  the  soul  of  the  English 
political  system,  they  couldn't  even  compre- 
hend. The  revenues  of  the  province,  speaking 
broadly,  were  derived  from  an  old  Crown 
custom  duty  on  spirits  and  molasses,  secondly 
from  the  Crown  lands,  and  thirdly  from  the 
duties  charged  on  imports  by  the  province. 
The  last  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Assembly, 
the  two  first  provisionally  retained  by  the 
Crown.  The  main  efforts  of  the  French- 
Canadians,  supported  by  a  few  British  mem- 
bers, was  to  get  control  of  the  whole  revenue. 
This  was  actually  conceded  in  consideration 
of  a  fixed  Civil  list  as  provision  for  all  the 
salaries  necessary  for  the  officials,  judges,  and 
so  forth.  But  as  the  Assembly  insisted  on 
an  annual  scrutiny  of  these  salaries,  which 
amounted  to  placing  the  machinery  of  govern- 
ment at  their  mercy,  and  struck  out  the  word 
"  fixed,"  another  deadlock  ensued,  which 
lasted  till  the  Revolution  in  1837. 

In  brief  the  French-Canadian  legislature,  by 
far  the  least  capable  in  Parliamentary  wisdom 
and  experience  of  any  then  meeting  under 
the  British  Cro^vn,  demanded  more  power 
than  was  possessed  by  the  English  House 


i 


112 


CANADA 


! 


1 


of  Commons.    Indeed  even  more  than  this, 
the   virtual   suppression   of   a   minority   re- 
presentmg  the  whole  progressive  element  in  the 
Colony.    It  must  be  admitted  that  the  British 
did  not  meet  this  demand  in  a  meek  spirit, 
while  lack  of  wisdom  had  been  shown  in  not 
apportiomng    offices    with    equity    between 
the  races.     The  official  and  military  element, 
too,  behaved  with  a  good  deal  of  social  arro- 
gance, so  much  so  indeed  that  £  large  British 
following   would  have  certainly  joined  the 
French,  had  the  latter  been  less  extravagant 
in  their  demands,  and  less  vituperative  towards 
everyti..ag    British    when    these    were    not 
granted.     If   the   French   forgot   the   unex- 
ampled generosity  of  Great  Britain  towards 
them  at  the  Conquest,  the  British  now  ex- 
hibited an  unfortunate  display  of  contempt 
for  the  Fr/^nch,  as  if  for  an  inferior  race,  and 
the  mutuai  passions  of  the  two  were  lashed  to 
white  heat. 

An  immense  amount  of  time  had  been 
wasted  in  futile  and  often  foolish  oratory  in 
the  Assembly,  and  in  1835,  as  if  to  give  a 
specimen  of  this  verbosity,  a  petition  of 
nmety.four  Resolutions,  which  could  readily 
have  been  expressed  in  twenty-five,  was 
forwarded  to  England,  breathing  rebellion 
If  the  answer  were  unfavourable.  Naturally 
it  was  so,  and  a  rebellion  broke  out,  headed 
by   Papmeau,   a   well-educated,   hot-headed, 


REVOLUTION  TO  FEDERATION    118 

eloquent  leader  of  a  band  of  fiery  or  dreamy 
politicians,  with  wild  ideas  of  setting  up  a 
Republic  under  the  United  States,  so  far  as 
they  had  definite  ideas  at  all.  It  must  be 
said  at  once  that  a  majority  of  he  French 
would  have  no'i;hing  to  do  with  the  rising  and 
disapproved  of  it,  while  the  Church  issued 
solemn  denunciations  of  the  rebels. 

The  rebellion,  however,  was  much  more 
serious  than  that  in  Upper  Canada,  if  only 
from  the  fact  that  a  far  greater  number  of 
deluded  men,  peasants  of  one  or  two  districts, 
and  townsmen,  took  the  field.  They  hadn't 
a  chance  againsh  the  regular  troops  quartered 
in  the  Colony,  to  say  nothing  of  the  British 
militia  of  the  province,  and  indeed,  some 
French  militia  were  reported  willing  to  act 
against  them  if  wanted.  Papineau  escaped 
to  the  States  before  facing  a  shot,  but  some 
of  the  leaders  and  their  followers  fought 
bravely  though  quite  uselessly.  A  good 
deal  of  property  was  destroyed,  and  some 
hundreds  of  lives  on  the  insurgent  side  were 
sacrificed. 

These  two  rebellions  coming  together  awoke 
the  British  Government  to  the  unsatisfactory 
state  of  the  Canadas.  In  the  next  year,  1839, 
Lord  Durham,  a  liberal-minded  and  able 
statesman,  was  sent  to  Canada  to  report  on 
the  situation,  and  was  armed  with  very 
wide    powers.     The    constitution    of    Lower 


i  1 


:  II 


Jft 


114 


CANADA 


^1 


r. 


Canada    was    temporarily    suspen.ied,    and 
Lord   Durham's  celebrated   "Report"  is  a 
masterly  description    of    the    state    of    the 
country.     In  Lower  Canada  he  found,  not 
two  pohtical  parties,  but "  two  nations  warring 
withm  a  single  state:"     The  Liberals  he  had 
expected  to  find  in  the  French  party  were  in 
everythmg— except  declamation  and  a  desire 
to  oust  the  English  anJ  control  the  Govern- 
ment— more  reactionary  and  conservative  in 
nmd  and  habit  than  any  community  he  had 
e^-r  seen.     The  Tories,  on  the  other  iiand, 
with  the  exception  of  a  determination  not 
to  be  controlled   by  Frenchmen,   were  the 
party  of  energy,  enterprise,  and  progress.     In 
short,  the  ideas  of  the  two  races  were  quite 
irreconcilable.     Their  antecedents  seemed  as 
hopelessly  divergent  as  their  viev^s  of  life. 
The  French-Canadians  were  not  to  be  blamed. 
They  were  easily  led,  as  they  still  are,  by 
rousmg  speakers,  but  otherwise,  a  quiet  life 
in  their  owti  parishes  of  the  kind  they  had 
always  enjoyed  was  all  they  asked  for.     They 
cared  nothing  for  development,  for  ooening  out 
the    country,    for    canals    or    roads.     They 
tjshked  the  British,  and  dreaded  being  sub- 
merged by  them,  and  their  leaders  adopted 
the  expedient  of  endeavouring  to  submerge 
the  British,  politically.     The  latter  in  their 
turn  with  characteristic  complacency  despised 
them,  and  unhappily  showed  it  ii  an  extent 


hj!  ■ 


REVOLUTION  TO  FEDERATION    115 

that  no  high-spirited  people  could  possibly 
have  borne. 

The  cure  for  all  this  was  to  be  a  Union 
between  the  two  provinces,  with  a  common 
Parliament  and  Government.  The  French 
stoutly  objected,  but  the  British  of  Quebec 
were  naturally  delighted.  In  Upper  Canada, 
their  constitution  not  being  suspended  the 
consent  of  its  Legislature  had  to  be  gained. 
The  popular  party  offered  no  objection  to  the 
Union,  as  it  promised  to  lessen  or  abolish  the 
domination  of  the  Family  Compact.  The 
latter  could  have  defeated  it,  for  the  Tories 
then  possessed  a  majority  in  the  Assembly, 
as  well  as  the  prestige  of  having  suppressed 
iuhe  rebellion.  To  their  lasting  honour,  under 
the  urgent  appeal  of  the  Home  Govern- 
ment, the  Compact  leaders  supplemented  the 
patriotism  they  had  so  often  shown  on  the 
battlefield  by  the  even  greater  sacrifice  of 
their  political  power.  For  the  Union  meant 
their  extinction. 

So  in  1842  the  two  Canadas  were  united, 
their  populations  being  now  about  equal, 
some  half  a  million  in  each.  There  were  two 
Houses  in  the  new  Parliament,  a  Legislative 
Council,  appointed  by  the  Crown,  and  an 
elected  Assembly  composed  of  an  equal 
number  from  each  province,  now  to  be  called 
Canada  East  and  Canada  West  respectively, 
and  united  under  one  Governor,  resident  at 


m 


1I« 


pi: 
1 


f 


,r      I 

I 

i   i 


m- 


CANADA 


I"' 


«it  at  Kingston  and  Montreal.     It  was  honAH 

r«3  I  *^^  representation  in  Lower 
th.Ar^  ""^7  '°^^^  ^'^  *h«  Upper  Province 
M  tr^T^  ^P^i*  might  b^broken  and 
C  It  w.!  °''  other  and  more  sensible 
fK«  u  i  ^^^  ^  reasonable  experiment  and 
though  the  twenty-five  vears  of  TTnf^r. 
disfitnir*xw   Kt,  u-4.i  yt^drs  or  umon  were 

a  S  deaf  nf  h'^/r"^  animosities  and 
tRif  ?L  •  ^*  ''*^'"'  "<'*'<"»  and  violent 
French  Ifv-**  'V^  '°™«  8°<"1  P"fPos«. 

tokrawri.  Tf  •  "^y  <=°''''»°t  association  on 
tolerably  equal  terms  with  those  of  a  race  to 

the  manner  born  as  it  were,  acquired  ineW? 

<^^(  \^zirr' '"'  "^^  s'™"  °'  »"";. 

Bv  H.  P??*^  *'y  "'«"  °'  British  blood 
By  degrees  they  produced  from  their  ranks 
quite  a  number  of  men  who  were  as  capable 
of  taking  a  cool-headed,  well-balanced  ,m 
prejudiced  view  of  the  welflie  of  the  e^untev" 
generally  as  the  best  of  their  colCl^  f"om 
Upper  Canada.  More  than  o^Fr^ch^ 
Canadian    who   had   carried    a    muskeT  in 

o?  tj:'trSsh"?'   '"  "^^  loyrmiltt? 
oi    tne    liritish    Crown.     This     twentv  fi^r^ 

years,    though   for   the   most   pa  t  ^t^? 

and    as    an    experiment,    upon    the  ^Jl 

unsuccessful     Z     neveitheC   tall'bt 

»s     a    political     training.      Above    all     it 


i 


REVOLUTION  TO  FEDERATION    117 

proved    the    stepping-stone    to   Responsible 
Government. 

It  is  impossible  here  to  touch  upon  the 
many  causes  of  dispute  that  made  politics 
so   bitter   during   this   period.     When   com- 
munities of  about  equal  size,  of  different  race, 
language,   faith,   and  ideas,   and  very  little 
knowledge  one  of  the  other,  are   united  in 
one  popular  form  of  government,  it  can  easily 
be  imagined  what  friction  must  occur.     There 
were   British   Tories    and   British   Radicals, 
and   thirdly  the  French,  a  situation  which 
would  seem,  on  the  face  of  it,  to  give  the 
latter    a   controlling    voice.     But    on   racial 
questions  the  British  closed  their  ranks,  while 
on  others  the  French  were  by  no  means  at  one. 
As  a  whole,  influenced  by  their  Church,  they 
were  anti-American,  while  the  British  Liberals, 
though  generally  loyal,  represented  American 
ideas,  which  the  strongest  French  interests 
disliked,    and   the   British    Tories    detested. 
So,  in  spite   of   fierce   racial    controversies, 
culminating  sometimes  in  outside  mob  riots, 
a  great  deal  of  useful  legislation  was  passed 
dealing     with      public      works,     municipal 
governments,  and  education. 

Responsible  Government  did  not  ccme 
even  now  suddenly  and  loud  proclamation. 
It  seemed  destined  in  all  the  North  American 
colonies  to  come  of  itself  at  the  right  and 
proper  moment,  and  then  quietly  to  remain  an 


I 


I 


118 


CANADA 


J 


r  i 


\t  '{ 


present    definite  conception  of   its  meanina 
was  even  then  quite  fully  lecognized.     Th? 
Executive  m  the  Union  Governmf nt  consisted 
of  eight  members  selected  by  the  Governor  or 
Crown  from  both  houses,  and  it  was  understood 
that  they  were  to  be  in  sympathy  with  the 
Parliamentary  majority.     This  und'LrstandW 
was  not  immediately  acted  on.     It  seemed  evef 
to  conscientious  and  highminded  Governors 
hke  severing  the  last  link  of  the  Crown's 
authority.    The  same  occurred  with  regard  to 
patronage,  which  with  full  Responsible  Govern- 
ment falls    of  course,  to  the  advisers  of  the 
Crown,  otherwise  the  party  in  power.     There 
was  no  further  trouble  in  mone/matters,  for  a 
fixed  sum  for  the  CivU  list  had  been  settle? 
rif  *\^^°^?'  House  had  full  control  of  the 
rest      It  was  in  1848  that  Responsible  Govern- 

TsTt  wer^°"^^   '*"^^'^^   approaching,    came, 

as  It  were  m  a  moment.     Lord  Elgin,  an  able 

and  enlightened  Governor,  when  the  Liberals 

were  returned  to  power  after  a  stormy  election, 

accepted  all  their  recommendations  for  the 

f  h^^M-^  ''°'^  gradually  getting  to  be  called 

the   Min..try    and   established  \   precedent 

that  was  finally  recognised.     Patronage,  too.     \ 

passed  automatically  out  of  the  Governor's     I 

iiands.  or  rather  was  now  exercised  bv  him     ' 

m  accordance  with  the  nomination  of  Us 


\ 


REVOLUTION  TO  FFDEHATION  "» 


ministera  representing  the  party  in  power 
for  the  moment.  That  full  Responsible 
Government  came  thus  gradually  to  its  final 
accomplishment  may  be  set  down  to  the 
happy  political  instinct  of  the  British  race, 
who,  from  long  and  strenuous  contentions 
between  the  too  hasty  and  the  too  cautious, 
have  so  frequently  evolved  the  right  policy  at 
just  the  right  moment.  When  the  two  pro- 
vinces were  separate,  it  would  have  been 
madness  ir  the  one  and  premature  in  the 
other.  Even  when  united,  it  was  probably 
f  wholesome  thing  that  so  great  a  change 
In  colonial  government  should  have  taken 
seven  years  of  tentative  experiment  and 
controversy  before  fulfilment.  The  same  result 
was  accomplished  at  about  the  same  time 
in  the  other  three  British  provinces  of  Nova 
Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  and  Prince  Edward 
Island,  as  will  be  recorded  in  a  later  chapter 


CHAPTER    V 


P 

i 
1 


;{ « 


1 


FEDERATION 

WiS^Sesladt*'^  ?J"'*   North 
more  th2n  one  Wht^^T  "'^  "'°"S'>*^  °' 
even  in  the  i8VceZ*!^an7'™":;"*^^"^'*' 
by  others  after  the  wI^'oT^gTa     iTf^ 
vast  distances   between  thL;     *?"'."•* 
before   steam,    had   nrovld    »'„  °  *''^  <^*y' 
deterrent.     N^w,  howe^r  f„  Z  ;°™P«^».b'e 
when  steamships  were  CToss^'i  ft     L','''''*'' 
and  running  upon  I  toe  lajf-s  and  ^*''=' 
when  the  Grand  Tnir,tT>,:i  •  ?""  "vers, 

branches,  had  pushed  ^17?.  ™"' ^^^^ging 

Canadas/and  tL  Inter"!fo„LYR  ^?  *''%''^° 
Quebec  to  the  maritime  n,.  "      Ra-'way  from 

proiected.  the"\tr  fCed  "  ^e^  t?h'^ 
causes,  too,  were  working  in  it,  fff  •°"'.*'' 
two  Canadas.     One  ot7hZ  °"'' '"  ">« 

insecurity,  another  the  ^„  ?  "'"  "  '^"'«  °f 

was  the  virtua  If^iu^e^^^tlT'-  P*^^"?^' 
Union.    As  regards  thl  tJ        .^"'"  political 

Civil  War,  IS^f hir  st?^\tsh  Thftn" 
Ji-feehng   between   Great   Britain "anS   tt 

120 


FEDERATION 


121 


United  States.  Hitherto  the  political  party 
in  America  most  hostile  to  Canada  and 
England  had  been  the  one  chiefly  domi- 
nated by  the  southern  and  slave-holding 
states,  in  short,  the  democratic  party  ;  which 
had  been  for  most  of  the  first  half  of  the 
century  in  power  at  Washington.  The  old 
Federals,  now  known  as  the  Republican  Party, 
had  succeeded  to  office  before  the  war,  and 
had  waged  that  tremendous  contest  which 
consolidated  all  the  northern  states,  whatever 
their  former  politics,  in  a  successful  effort 
to  maintain  the  Union  against  the  over- 
strained doctrine  of  States*  rights.  This  last 
embodied  the  right  to  secede  at  any  time 
from  the  Union,  while  negro  slavery,  though 
its  suppression  was  not  the  actual  motive  of 
the  war,  was  its  most  conspicuous  result. 
The  institution  of  slavery,  however,  was  the 
main  cause  of  those  differences  of  opinion 
regarding  the  respective  rights  of  the  states 
and  the  Central  Government  which  provoked 
the  quarrel. 

It  was  now  the  northern  states  that  were 
in  ill-humour  with  England.  For,  rightly  or 
wrongly,  they  accused  her  of  comiiving  at 
privateers  in  the  southern  or  rebel  interest, 
a  dispute  long  afterwards  settled  by  our 
payment  to  the  United  States  of  the  famous 
"  Alabama  "  claims.  Still  more  resented  was 
the  fact  that  the  sympathy  of  a  strong  party 


122 


rii 


f 


m 


CANADA 


in  England  as  well  as  in  Canada  h.A  u 

ill-conceill  ir  onhf  hf "''  "^''^  P^^^ly 
at  the  domestic  Hiffiou-    "T"    satisfaction 

and  «as  now  in  its  tnrn^        k^®'"*'   "'> 

s^  j-'-rf -"f  So^r  it* 

:^■|ftSS'-»-^s■o:?.^°i 

in   1865    Zifh   f K  '  ""^^  J'^^  unpleasant.  ^  So 
"1   looD,    with   the  south   crusher!     o«^   *u 

considered   a    Union   nfc.'  had  formally 


FEDERATION 


123 


been 

was 

taker 

irt]y 

ition 
hich 

us, 
inst 
s  it 
^lic, 
the 
I  of 

to 

So 
the 

in 
>rt- 

TS, 

in 
3rs 
Ty 
an 
to 
Jv 

rll 
0- 

ly 
n 

h 

s 


proposed  a  general  Confederation.  For 
having  failed  to  get  along  together  they  had 
other  motives  for  change  besides  external 
danger. 

One  other  incident  at  this  moment  helped 
to    advance    the    cause    of    Federation.     A 

{Reciprocity  Treaty  with  the  United  States 
had  existed  since  1850.     At  its  expiry  in  1865, 
I  that  country,  hoping  to  impress  on  Canada 
I  how  much  she  lost  by  remaining  tied  to  the 
1  Mother  country,  and  outside  the  Union,  and 
i  in   its   displeasure   with   everything   British, 
I  refused  to  renew  it.     So  a  feeling  that  unity 
I  of  defence  in  trade  as  well  as  in  war  would  be 
I  a  good  thing,  took  vague  shape.     Still  there 
were    immense    internal    difficulties    to    be 
I   overcome.     French  Canada  not  unnaturally 
dreaded    a    Confederation    which    would    be 
overwhelmingly  British,  in  spite  of  the  com- 
pensating fact  that  she  would  again  have  the 
sole   management   of   her   provincial   affairs. 
I    Upper    Canada,    divided    between    Liberals 
j    and  Tories,  could  not  see  alike  on  any  single 
I    question.     In   both    provinces  politics    were 
I    so  bitter  and  personal  that  however  strong 
I    the  reasons  for  Federation,  only  a  great  man 
could    have    brought    it    about    then,    and, 
i     having     carried     the     two     Canadas,     have 
I     reconciled  the  claims  of  the  three  maritime 
4     provinces.     For    the    people    of    these    last 
f     were  jealous  of  the  preponderating  strength 


124 


in  \ 


# 


CANADA 


trifling  doLsttc  d  fferenc^*'"  jrTf  ^^y 
vnces  where  French  SLr  "f  "^  P"""" 
sympathizers,  and'ntolerant  n  "''  American 
constant  discord     "'°'"*"'  Ofangemen  made 

and  the  CoZr^SZlJ/'   7^^   produced, 

Parliament  of  the  two  r«^t'  '"  *'"'  """«<' 
who  mainly  blmJht    T  f''^,';  was  the  man 

summation     He  has  t^""*  V"'"  ''Wy  con- 

Wd  Beac;„s?^d  ?:r  hrWsTnJ''^"^  '° 
and  shrewdness  in  m.„     5°resight,  his  tact 

JmperialistfeTrUvitTes    liTrf,'"'"'  »"<»  "'» 
there  was  a  touch  ofL.^^  *"°"«'''  too,    i 
To  relate  here  how  SiriTH,"'"'"'''^"'^'-    ' 
he  afterwards  became  L*''?,  "«<"J'^'nald.  as 
leaders  of  the  »^?f    gradually  won  over  the 

and  British  and  wf""""  l!^™^"*^.  French 
the  Canada^  wou?d  iT^nP?''*'""'  ""^'^^  '•> 
to  understandTfu^lv  J^°,i°"S  *  **•«•    And 

'edge  of  the  variol"Ji~'S";r  "  '"'°^- 
religious  and  racial,  a^df^enfi?*  """"''y* 
ammosities,  which  eounfl^  7  ""*  Personal 
pleasant,  however  tar.  °u  '°  ?""'''.  It  is 
was  cordiallj^;'' '^re^^^ber  that  Sir  John 


mS^—^TPm' 


FEDERATION 


125 


had  to  be  smoothed  down,  and  their  natural 
dread   of   being   swamped — for   immigration 
came  comparatively  little  their  way — allayed. 
Their  people  may  be  roughly  described  as 
half  farmers,  half  sailors,  and  their  interests  are 
rather  different  from  those  of  Canada.     Nova 
Scotia,  again,  was  the  senior  British  province 
in  age,  and  had  no  little  pride  of  her  o^vn. 
She  possessed,  moreover,  at  that  moment  the 
two  statesmen  who  in  Canadian  history  rank 
next  to  Macdonald :  Joseph  Howe,  a  Liberal, 
{.Q    I     who  had  virtually  won  Responsible  Govern- 
ment for  his  province,  and  was  elderly  ;   and 
Charles  Tupper,  a  young,  indomitable,  and 
Imperialistic    Conservative.     Financial    con- 
cessions in  the  way  of  railroads  or  the  assump- 
tion of  provincial  debts  entered  into  most  of 
these  propositions.     Howe  blew  hot  and  cold, 
and  rather  sullied  the  close  of  a  noble,  well- 
spent,   and  patriotic  life.     Tupper,  in  after 
years  Sir  Charles,  so  well-known  in  the  nineties 
as    Agent-General    for    Canada    in    London, 
proved   a   host    in  himself,   and  Federation 
was  carried  through  the  Legislature,  though 
not  without  much  opposition.     But  the  Nova 
Scotian  Government  did  not  go  to  the  country 
on  the  question,  which  was  much  resented. 
With    less    difficulty,    though    not    without 
obstacles,  Sir  Leonard  Tilly  brought  in  New 
Brunswick  after  a  general  election,  while  little 
Prince  Edward  Island  reserved  its  adherence 


126 


CANADA 


'!|- 


for  two  or  three  years,  which  did  not  much 
matter. 

The  British  Govermnent  all  this  time  had 
been  strongly  in  favour  of  Federation,  and 
done  everything  it  legitimately  could  to  bring 
It  about.     The  leaders  of  both  English  parties 
favoured  it,  and  their  divergent  motives  for 
so  domg  are  instructive  and  amusing  reading 
at  this  time  of  day.     Disraeli  and  his  school 
supported  it  from  a  belief  in  the  future  of 
Imperialism.     Others,  wearied  with  the  cease- 
less discord  and  trouble  that  appeared  to  be 
chrome    m    the    two    Canadas,     welcomed 
federation   merely   as   a   fresh   experiment. 
Many  Liberals  openly  supported  it  because 
Wi-.v   expected   and   publicly   expressed   the 
hop  J  that  the  colonies  would  soon  separate 
from   the  Mother   country  and   set   up  for 
themselves,  and  they  considered  that  Union 
would  strengthen  their  hands  for  that  end. 

Everything  being  now  ripe  across  the 
Atlantic,  a  convention  of  delegates  from  the 
several  provinces  met  at  the  Westminster 
Falace  Hotel,  in  London,  in  the  winter  of 
1866-7,  settled  the  details,  and  in  March  of  the 
year  1867  the  "  British  North  America  Act  " 
passed  without  opposition  through  the  Impe- 
rial Parliament,  and  received  the  Queen's 
assent.  The  new  Constitution  came  into 
effect  upon  July  1st.  The  Federated  pro- 
vinces   received    the    designation    of    "The 


i?^^^^fc*iHvy^^ 


T'^^-'^^^W-SI 


FEDERATION 


127 


Dominion  of  Canada,"  and  the  capital  was 
fixed,  for  reasons  of  general  convenience, 
and  for  security  of  situation,  as  well  as  to  save 
contention,  at  Ottawa,  hitherto  an  obscure 
country  town. 

In  1870  the  North-West  was  taken  over  by 
arrangement  from  the  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany, and  the  nearer  portion  of  it,  under  the 
name  of  Manitoba,  came  into  the  Confedera- 
tion as  a  province.  A  year  later  British 
Columbia,  for  a  long  time  a  province  with  an 
organized  government  though  small  popula- 
tion, joined  the  Union  under  the  prospect  of 
the  now  seriously  proposed  Canadian  Pacific 
Railroad.  Little  Prince  Edward  Island 
abandoned  what  would  have  been  an 
absurd  position,  and  followed  suit  in  1878. 
Newfoundland,  as  we  know,  has  remained 
resolutely  outside  to  this  day. 

The  new  Canadian  Constitution  was 
modelled  chiefly  on  that  of  Great  Britain,  with 
some  features,  as  was  only  natural,  borrowed 
from  that  somewhat  similar  Confederacy 
of  the  United  States.  Experience,  however, 
enabled  its  framers  to  take  warning  from  the 
M-eak  points  in  the  American  scheme,  which 
had  been  so  conspicuously  brought  out  by 
discord  and  civil  war,  and  are  even  still 
in  many  ways  a  cause  of  difficulty.  The 
much  longer  existence,  however,  and  con- 
sequent individuality  of  the  old  American 


I 


i 


I 


128 


CANADA 


i 


colonies  before  they  came  together,  had  made 
them  extremely  chary  of  the  measure  of 
power  they  conceded  to  a  Central  Govern- 
ment. Their  Constitution  had  been  a 
compromise  between  leaders  like  Alexander 
Hamilton,  who  wanted  great  concessions  from 
each  state,  and  a  strong  Central  Government, 
and  those  like  Jefferson,  who  wanted  to  take 
as  little  as  possible  from  the  state,  and  scented 
"  monarchy  and  aristocracy "  in  a  powerful 
Federal  Government.  They  could  not  see 
that  slender  ties,  without  a  historic  bond  of 
Union,  made  for  possible  disintegration  at 
home  and  weakness  abroad.  Even  the  com- 
promise brought  about,  as  we  know,  the 
greatest  civil  war  of  modern  times,  and  cost  a 
million  lives. 

So  the  Canadians  reversed  this  system.  The 
provinces  ceded  all  their  former  powers  to  the 
Crown,  and  received  back  just  such  measures 
of  provincial  self-government  that  th*»=^  repre- 
sentatives had  agreed  upon  as  desirable. 
Their  powers  are  clearly  defined  in  the 
Constitution.  Everything  that  is  not  so 
belongs  to  the  Federal  Government.  In  the 
United  States  the  Government  had  received 
its  power  from  "Sovereign  States,"  with 
defined  limitations.  Everything  outside  what 
they  had  actually  parted  with  in  1789,  even 
if  unforeseen  situations  arose,  was  jealously 
regarded  as  the  concern  of  the  individual 


■P 


n>«P« 


FEDERATION 


129 


state.      Even     to-day     this     is     sometimes 
extremely  awkward  both  in  small  and  great 
affairs.     California,  for  instance,  can  pursue 
any    course    towards    Chinese    or    Japanese 
j  residents,    regardless     of     the     relationships 
between  the  two  national  Governments.    Most 
states,    again,    have   different   divorce   laws. 
Great  Britain  and  Canada,   in  framing  the 
new  Constitution,  were  determined  to  have 
none  of  these  anomalies.     In   it  there  is  a 
Governor-General   appointed   for  five   years, 
holding  practically  the  same  place  that  the 
sovereign  does  in  the  Mother  country.     The 
Legislature  consists  of  two  Houses — a  Senate 
and  a  House  of  Commons — the  last  elected 
for  not  more  than  five  years  under  manhood 
suffrage,  with  the  usual  reservations.  The  sena- 
tors are  nominated  for  life  by  the  Governor- 
General  in  Council.     They  must  be  over  thirty 
years  of  age,  and  possess  a  certain  property 
qualification.     Their  function  is  identical  with 
!  that   of  the  British   House   of  Lords,   prior 
I  to  1911.     The  Cabinet,  always  representing 
j  the  majority  for  the  time  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  may  be  chosen  from  both  Houses. 
In  short,  the  parallel  between  government  at 
Ottawa  and  at  Westminster  is  so  complete, 
save   in    the    greater    j)o\ver    of    the    Upper 
Chamber,  that  no  further  words  are  necessary, 
unless  to  say  that  both  senators  and  M.P.'s 
have  an  allowance  of  £200  a  year.     This  is 


180 


CANADA 


the  more  necessary  as,  unfortunately,  men  of 
means  and  standing  in  the  country  do  not 
often  adopt  a  political  career. 

A  Lieutenant-Governor  presides  over  each 
province,  but  the  position  is  now  always  filled 
by  a  Canadian.  In  Nova  Scotia,  Quebec,  and 
Prince  Edward  Island  the  provincial  Legisla- 
ture consists  of  two  Houses  like  the  Federal 
Government.  In  Ontario,  which,  in  1867, 
became  the  new  designation  for  Upper  Canada, 
New  Brunswick,  and  the  Western  Provinces, 
there  is  only  an  elected  chamber.  A  cabinet 
in  each  province  represents  the  majority  at  the 
time,  and  the  practice  is  that  of  Responsible 
Government,  as  in  the  Federal  Parliament. 

The  Dominion  Parliament  has  control  of  the 
general  affairs  of  the  country,  the  regulation 
of  trade,  the  postal  system,  the  public  debt  and 
borrowing  of  money  on  public  credit,  military 
and  naval  matters,  navigation,  quarantine, 
fisheries,  coinage,  banks,  bankruptcy,  patents, 
Indian  affairs,  naturalization  of  aliens,  cus- 
toms and  excise,  marriage  and  divorce,  public 
works,  railways,  penitentiaries,  and  commer- 
cial law  and  procedure. 

The  provinces  have  control  of  direct  taxa- 
tion within  their  borders,  of  provincial  loans 
and  the  management  of  public  lands  within 
their  territory,  the  management  of  prisons, 
hospitals,  asylums,  and  charitable  institutions ; 
the    control    of    education    and    municipal 


i™«i 


«!?— 


SaBiB 


FEDERATION 


131 


institutions,  and  the  administration  of  justice, 
and  provincial  courts,  wh'Ie  at  Ottawa  are 
held  the  criminal  courts  and  the  High  courts 
of  appeal. 

It  is  enough  to  say  Ji&t  Couff -leration  in 
Canada  has  fulfilled  ti  e  expecta'ions  of  its 
most  sanguine  advocatCo.  Difficulties,  of 
coux.se,  there  were.  The  maritime  provinces 
had  contained  a  strong  minority  opposed  to 
the  scheme  as  tending  to  overlook  the  interests 
of  the  smaller  stars  of  the  constellation,  and 
lessening  their  importance.  This  feeling  was 
not  at  once  ailayed ;  while  British  Columbia, 
which  came  in  on  the  prospect  of  the  Canadian 
Pacific  railroad,  threatened  secession  when  that 
great  work  lagged  in  fulfilment,  and  became 
for  a  time  the  bone  of  contention  in  Federal 
politics.  But  the  two  Canadas  gained  enorm- 
ously by  the  wider  sphere  and  greater  dignity 
of  the  Dominion  Government.  The  French 
began  to  produce  broad-minded  statesmen, 
instead  of  merely  clever,  factious  orators, 
while  in  the  Quebec  Parliament,  the  chief 
storm  centre  of  old  days,  the  English  minority 
and  the  French  majority  managed  their  local 
affairs  without  any  further  serious  friction. 


E2 


rf^a 


^i  ] 


'  if 


CHAPTER   VI 


m 


THE   FRENCH   IN   CANADA 

It  is  high  time  now  to  say  something  about 
the  original   owners  and  occupants   of  this 
Canada  which  fell  into  our  hands  in  1760,  and, 
out  of  troubles  and  tribulations  and  many 
narrow  escapes,  has  blossomed  into  a  great 
country  with  a  strong  sense  of   unity  and  a 
growing    sense    of    nationality      We    have 
made  some  acquaintance  with  the  French- 
Canadians    in    the    .^receding    chapters,    as 
enemies  in  the  field,  well  worthy  of  our  steel, 
and  in  the  council  chamber  as  a  seemingly 
factious    people,   restive   in    double    harness 
with  their  British  mates  while  dragging  the 
wheels   of    the  political   chariot.     Their    old 
civilization    and    condition    has    been    inci- 
dentally   alluded    to;      but    these    chapters 
would     be    but    an    incomplete   sketch    of 
Canada  without  some  words  as  to  its  oldest 
European  inhabitants. 

The  practical  claim  of  France  on  Canada  is 
much  older  than  that  of  the  English  on  the 
North  American  seaboard  to  the  south  of  it. 

132 


j^ak'^t£)FVKaKr 


-■■fi. 


wm. 


ir?»T5r^?5^ka<iSr 


.^■vli 


f 

T 


THE  FRENCH  IN  CANADA       188 

It  was  in  1534  that  Cartier,  a  Breton  mariner, 
sailed  up  the  St.  Lawrence  and  planted  forts 
where  Quebec  and  Montreal  now  stand.  But 
after  a  few  seasons  of  going  and  coming,  some 
excitement  in  France,  and  wonderful  dreams 
of  Eldorados  and  other  marvellous  things  in 
the  mysterious  land  beyond,  common  to  the 
romantic  16th  century,  the  hardships  proved 
greater  than  the  scanty  rewards,  and  the  whole 
thing  was  abandoned.  France,  otherwise 
occupied,  forgot  all  about  Canada  t'll  such 
time  as  the  English  were  busy  settling  in 
Virginia  and  New  England.  Then  she 
returned  in  the  person  of  another  brave  adven- 
turer, Champlain,  and  planted  the  rude 
beginnings  of  Canada  beneath  the  rock  uj)on 
which  the  city  of  Quebec  now  stands. 

The  early  French  settlers  on  the  St.  Law- 
rence were  inspired  b  '-  er  di fferent  motives, 
and  at  any  rate  ado  different  methods, 

from  those  followed  by  the  pioneers  that  the 
great  Chartered  Company  in  England,  whose 
rights  covered  nearly  the  whole  Atlantic 
coast,  sent  to  Virginia,  and  still  more  different 
from  those  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  who  shortly 
afterwards  landed  on  the  New  England  coast 
The  practical  spirits  of  the  French  settlement 
took  to  fur  trading  and  exploration,  farming 
being  practised  as  a  mere  necessity  of  existence. 
But  the  missionary  spirit  was  quite  as  strong 
as  either     Clerics  and  saintly  ladies,  often 


'iSi'i^Biim 


184 


CANADA 


iii^ 


■ 


■It 
I 


of  noble  birth,  faced  infinite  hardships,  while 
the   warriors    of   the    com  lunity    met    the 
irreconcilable   portion   of   the   Indians   with 
great   bravery      No  efforts  were  spared  nor 
dangers  flinched  from   in   winning  over  the 
more    friendly    to    the   Cross.     The    Jesuits 
cook  a  leading  part  in  this  work.     Churches, 
hospitals,    and   in   time   convents,    grew   up 
side    by    side    with    warehouses.     For    fifty 
years— a   cycle  easy   to  remember,   that    of 
the  first  period  of  French  Canadian  history- 
Canada  contained  few  people  but  fur  traders 
and  religious  enthusiasts,  who  together  never 
numbered    more    than  two  thousand  souis. 
Half    of    them    were   settled   in   and   about 
Quebec,    and    the    remainder    up    the    St 
Lawrence  at  Three  Rivers,  still  the  "  Halfway 
House  "  to  Montreal ;    and  in  1641  Montreal 
itself  became  a  settled  post. 

The  two  elements  did  not  agree  very  well, 
the  rigid  morality  which  the  priestly  partv 
endeavoured  to  force  on  the  wild  traders 
being  a  cause  of  constant  frictioa  But  the 
incessant  conflicts  with  the  savages  compelled 
the  handful  of  French  adventurers,  a  majority 
of  whom  were  employees  of  a  trading  company, 
to  sink  differences  which  were  inevitable,  and 
are  of  small  importance  here.  Now%  the 
Iroquois,  thus  briefly  designated  the  '  Five 
Nations,  as  stated  in  a  former  chapter,  were 
seated  just   to  the  south   of  the  Canadian 


■■'■■i-!      ii- 


li^  ~>..^  w 


1 


THE  FRENCH  IN  CANADA       135 

border.  They  were  the  ablest  and  most 
formidable  of  all  the  North  American  groups. 
Though  but  a  fraction  of  the  whole,  they  had 
sjjread  the  terror  of  their  name  throughout 
the  wilderness,  from  the  north  of  Canada  to 
the  Mississippi,  having  defeated  and  some- 
times quite  dissipated  the  nations  that  they 
there  encountered.  The  French  from  the 
first  got  on  well  \vith  the  Canadian  Indians, 
gathered  them  to  their  missions,  or  established 
missionary  outposts  among  them,  and  in  a 
strictly  limited  sense,  converted  great  numbers 
of  them  to  the  Christian  faith.  This  fact  from 
the  first  made  the  fierce  Iroquois  their  deadly 
enemies,  as  the  French  from  their  trading 
and  missionary  intercourse  with  them  became 
identified  with  the  Canadian  tribes  as  their 
allies  and  patrons.  These  last,  though  warlike 
enough,  had  an  invincible  dread  of  the  Iroquois, 
whose  prestige  was  immense.  So  the  French 
had  often  only  themselves  to  depend  upon 
when  these  savages  made  fierce  raids  on  their 
settlements,  sometimes  up  to  the  very  gates  of 
Quebec.  But  the  missionary  zeal  of  the 
French  priests,  supported  by  a  religious 
enthusiasm  that  just  then  had  hold  of  certain 
classes  in  France,  seemed  to  grow  rather  than 
abate  under  these  war  clouds.  Many  of  them 
risked,  and  most  of  them  met,  a  dreadful  death 
in  their  daring  exploits,  suffering  the  horrible 
Indian     torture    with     incredible    stoicism, 


I'i 


186 


I  IHI 


CANADA 


sometimes   penetrating  alone  into  the   very 
camps  of  thsir  enemies,  to  earn,  as  they  held 
a  martyr's  crown.     Holy  women,  often  nobly 
born,   corducted  hospitals  and  missions  on 
the   ve-y   edge   of   this    bloody    Avilderness, 
with  a/ways  a  precarious  margin  of  escape 
from  the  tomahawk,  and  worse.     The  Iroquois 
were  on  good  terms  with  the  New  Englanders 
and  the  Dutch  of  New  York,  which  colony 
belonged  to  Holland  till  1661.     They  had  a 
certain  code  of  honour  in  these  alliances,  and 
were,   moreover,  interested  in  this  one  from 
trade  motives.     In  time  they  became  possessed 
through  these  means  of  fire-arms,  though  a 
bow  and  a  quiver-full  of  arrows  in  the  woods 
were  at  no  great  disadvantage  against  the 
clumsy  musket  of  the  17th  century. 

The  charter  of  the  fur-trading  company, 
which  had  carried  on  the  business  part  of 
this  precarious  existence,  and  failed,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  French  Government,  to  attend 
properly  to  the  religious  and  other  sides  of 
the  undertaking,   was   revoked  about   1663 
At  this  time,  the  early  days  of  Louis  XIV 
France  was  rising  to  the  zerith  of  her  com- 
manding poHx^r  in  Europe.    Colbert,  a  Minister 
of  far-sighted  colonial  views,  was  in  charge, 
and    he    was    determined    to    take    Canada 
seriously  m  hand  and  make  a  success  of  it. 
^o  It  became  a  royal  province,  the  sovereign's 
power  being  deputed  to  a  triumvirate  con- 


iit 


iiif 


*9?m 


I 


■  THE  FRENCH  IN  CANADA       187 

sistinff  of  a  Governor,  a  Bishop,  and  an 
Intendant,  the  last  being  entrusted  with  the 
legal  and  financial  side  of  the  administration. 
Several  thousand  immigrants  in  the  next  few 
years  were  despatcheu  to  the  colony,  among 
them  a  French  regiment,  whose  men  were 
settled,  like  the  others,  as  farmers  in  the 
Richelieu  valley,  the  danger  spot  where  the 
Five  Nations  werr  accustomed  to  break  into  the 
country. 

The  French  views  of  colonization,  however, 
were    utterly    different    from    those    of    the 
English,  with  whom  every  man  took  his  own 
way,  settled  as  a  free  holder  on  any  land 
his  means  or  opportunities  allowed,  and  had 
thenceforward  a  share  in  the  local  govern- 
ment of  his  district  and  colony.     The  French 
methods,  as  regards  Canada,  at  any  rate,  were 
paternal  and  aristocratic.     The  banks  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  between  Quebec  and  Montreal, 
and  one  or  two  other  districts,  were  parcelled 
out  in  large  tracts  of  several  square  miles  in 
extent.     These  were  given  or  sold  to  men  of 
the  lesser  noblesse,  or  to  others  prepared  to 
buy  the  privilege,  who  became  the  seigneurs  or 
lords  of  manors,   and  these  seigneurs  were 
the  recognized   ari:,tocracy   of  the  country. 
Most  of  the  immigrants  sent  out  were  of  the 
peasant  class ;  and  to  provide  against  the  excess 
of  men  over  women,  shiploads  of  selected  girls 
were  despatched   by  the  Government,    and 


I't 


|H 


si' 


i  i-     I 


ffii 


138 


CANADA 


placed  in  the  charge  of  the  religious  houses  at 
Quebec,  till  husbands  were  found  for  them, 
which  was  never  very  long. 

For  about  twenty  years  from  1663  onwards, 
these  consignments  of  men  and  women  were 
despatched,  the  larger  part  from  Normandy, 
sailing  out  of  Dieppe,  the  lesser  part  from 
the  west  coast,  sailing  from  Rochelle.  There 
was  very  little  immigration  from  France  to 
Canada  after  that  period,  and  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  the  great  bulk  of  the  two  million  French 
Canadians  now  in  North  America  are  des- 
cended from  people  who  arrived  in  Canada 
before  1G86.  This  gives  them  a  peculiar 
mterest,  as  they  retained  in  the  seclusion 
of  Canada  the  language  and  many  of  the 
customs  of  France  in  the  days  of  Louis  XIV. 
They  still  retain  the  former  and  many  of  the 
latter. 

In  spite  of  hard  and  fast  semi-feudal  land 
laws,  they  found  a  rude  comfort  and  even  free- 
dom, such  as  on  the  crowded  estates  of  France, 
with  their  many  vexatious  restrictions,  was 
unknown.  These  peasants — a  designation 
which  they  repudiated,  calling  themselves,  as 
they  are  still  called,  "  habitants  "—were  settled 
on  the  uncleared  forest  manors  or  seigneuries. 
Their  individual  farms  were  laid  out  in  long 
narrow  strips,  so  that  each  one  might  have  a 
frontage  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  then  the 
chief  highway.     They  might  be  two  hundred 


.  i; 


THE  FRENCH  IN  CANADA       139 

yards  wide  and  a  mile  deep,  inconvenient 
fj^  farming  purposes,  but  sociable  and  safer 
in  trouble,  as  the  houses  stood  in  a  continuous 
line.  This  was  the  French  system ;  and  to-day 
you  will  see  it  prevailing  over  the  face  of 
most  of  Lower  Canada,  in  great  contrast 
to  that  of  Ontario  and  'he  maritime  provinces, 
where  homesteads,  as  in  England,  stand 
conveniently  within  farms  approaching  to  a 
square  in  shape.  These  habitants  paid 
a  nominal  rent  to  the  seigneur,  who  lived 
in  a  rude  manor  house  on  the  property,  and 
always  erected  a  mill  at  which  his  tenantry 
were  bound  to  grind  their  corn  at  a  fixed  but 
low  toll.  They  also  owed  their  lord  military 
service,  while  he  was  further  entitled  to  a 
twelfth  part  of  the  purchase  money  should 
a  tenant  sell  his  holding.  The  seigneur,  on 
his  part,  exercised  full  magisterial  powers 
over  his  people,  in  cases  other  than  murder 
and  treason.  He  held  his  manor  from  the 
King  on  military  service  and  swore  fealty  to 
the  Royal  Governor,  with  all  the  old  mediaeval 
ceremonies.  He  was  responsible,  however, 
to  the  Crown  for  his  conduct  towards  his 
tenantry  and  estate,  and  for  failure  was 
liable  to  forfeiture,  a  penalty  occasionally 
exacted. 

The  seigneurs,  however,  had  no  more 
political  power  than  their  tenants.  They 
were  governed  absolutely  from  Quebec,  which 


ri 


140 


CANADA 


If  !. 


I 


in  turn  was  under  constant  instructions  from 
Paris.     The  inhabitants  neither  expected  nor 
wished   for   any   other   system.     There   was 
no    farming    outside    these    seigneuries.     A 
French-Canadian  could  not  go  into  the  woods 
behind  these  limits  and  cut  out  a  farm,  as  the 
English  did  in  their  own  colonies.     A  man  on 
his  own  account,   without  an  overlord,  and 
owing  fealty  and  duty  to  nobody,  was  outside 
calculation  in  the  Canadian  system,  except, 
of  course,  around  the  remote  trading  stations 
or  forts.     This  was  what  made  French  Canada 
later    on    so    strong    in    war.     The    French 
Government  thoroughly  believed  in  all  this. 
It  made  for  strength  and  obedience.     The 
Roman   C-tholic   Church,   too,   cherished   it. 
It  kept  "^h     ,.eople  under  religious  discipline, 
and  in  touch  with  their  priests ;   it  preserved 
to  them  an  almost   European   tradition,   of 
living  from  father  to  son  in  the  same  neighbour- 
hood, as  there  was  ample  room  for  subdivision 
on  the  uncleared   parts   of  the  seigneuries. 
The  habitants  raised  very  large  families,  and 
the  population  increased  rapidly      Education 
was  confined  to  the  higher  class,  and  was 
provided   in    Quebec   and   Montreal    by   the 
Church.     The    inculcation    of    obedience    to 
their  King  and  Church,  and  a  proper  horror 
of  heretics,  was  nearly  all  the  education  thought 
desirable  for  the  habitants,  who  were,  indeed, 
conscious  of   no  further   want.     Thev   were 


».:V,«JSJ54.?Jr.Avyi'BCS 


yi'l.'I'^.^J,.'.: 


'  \-f. 


tl 


THE  FRENCH  IS  CANADA        in 

hardy,  fairly  moral,  and  reasonably  in- 
dustrious, and,  if  backward  farmers,  were 
comfortably  off  in  a  simple  way,  though 
profoundly  ignorant. 

All  of  a  suitable  age  belonged  to  the  militia, 
were  accustomed  more  or  less  to  firearms, 
and  used  to  the  woods,  and  when  called  out  to 
fight  the  Indians  or  New  Englanders,  marched 
readily  to  war.  In  forest  fighting,  with  all 
the  endurance  it  demanded,  they  were  ex- 
tremely useful  soldiers.  The  seigneurs  had 
very  little  money.  Their  rents  and  dues 
were  very  small,  and,  having  no  particular 
occupation,  they  engaged  with  alacrity  in 
Indian  wars,  or  led  their  retainers  in  raids 
against  the  New  Englanders,  who  retaliated 
in  kind.  War  became  a  brutal  business  in 
these  northern  woods,  since,  from  frequent 
contact  as  friend  or  foe  with  the  Indians,  New 
England  borderers,  as  well  as  French- 
Can  •^'^'^ns,  caught  some  of  their  devilry  and 
scali-  each  other  like  Iroquois.  The 
devoted  missionary  zeal  of  the  Jesuits,  extend- 
ing to  the  formal  conversion  of  thousands  of 
Indians,  could  not  touch  their  callous,  merciless 
nature,  and  could  only  check  their  atrocities. 
This  the  priests  sometimes  did  at  the  peril  of 
their  own  lives,  when  personally  on  the  spot. 
Another  section  of  the  Canadian  people 
was  engaged  in  the  fur  trade,  which  offered  a 
rare  field  for  the  more  adventurous  and  reck- 


i  I 


I 


I 


I  fa 


h 


142 


II H 


i!   'I 


CANADA 


i!f^'  lu  ''r  T  ^^^  ^'I'gnant  sway  of  the  priest, 
and  the  hp-homage.  at  least,  to  the  seigneur 
were  irksome     Far  away   into  the  west  to 
Niagara   Detroit,  to  Michiilimakinac,  and  to 
5>ault  St.   Mane,    uh-re  great  steamers  now 
pass  through  the  cancels  between  Lakes  Huron 
and  Superior  :    further  even  than  that,  away 
over  the  Red  River,  across  the  prairie  country 
these  adventurous  French  traders  and  mis- 
sions pressed  their  way,   even   before  the 
Enghsh  conquest  of  1760.     This  wild  life,  too. 
produced  many  fearless  explorers.    La  Salle 
the     best     known,     had     discovered     and 
traversed  the  Mississippi  in  the  17th  century. 
It  was  the  possession  of  these  few  extended 
posts  the  pride  in  their  explorers,  the  superior 
knowledge  it  gave  them  of  the  far  West  as 
oppcsed  to  the  more  stay-at-home,  plodding 
British  colomsts,  that  bred  among  the  French 
later  on  an  idea  that  the  West  ought  to  be 
theirs.     Ihe  feeling  was  natural,  and  we  have 
shown  in  a  former  chapter  what  a  bold  bid 
tiiey  made  for  putting  it  into  effect 

As  a  rule,  men  of  strength  and  character 
Mere  sent  out  to  govern  Canada.  The  most 
notable  was  Count  Frontenac,  a  hard,  deter- 
mined, courageous  soldier,  with  a  good  many 

Ltlf/f-  -^K'u'''  ?^^^hmen  had  I  profound 
belief  m  the  individual  weakness  of  the 
British  colonies  to  the  south  of  them,  though 
It  was   modified    somewhat   in    the  case   of 


PP 


THE  FRENCH  IN  CANADA       148 

New     England.      Frontenac     had     actually 
succeeded  in  cowing  the  Iroquois.     He  now 
aspired,    since   war    was   going    on    between 
England  and  France,  to  no  less  an  achievement 
than  the  capture  of  New  York,  and  the  forcible 
deportation  of  the  twenty  thousand  English 
and  Dutch  living  in  that  province.     For  this 
purpose  a  fleet  was  collected  in  Nova  Scotia, 
where  the  French  had  strong  footing,  while 
an  army  was  to  march  overland.     Far  better 
equipped,  if  not  better  men  tha.i  he,  failed 
in   -heir  combined   enterprises,    in  the  next 
century,  over  this  same  country  of  infinite 
disti-nces  by   sea  and  land;   and  Frontenac 
praciically  never  got  started.     But  he  sent 
raidiig  parties  of  so-called  Christian  Indians 
and  French  rangers  over  the  frontier,   who 
perpetrated      the      savage      and      ferocious 
butcleries  that  were  expected  of  them.     New 
Englind  and  New  York  were  now  thoroughly 
roulicd,  and  boldly  determined  to  strike  at  the 
hearl  of  Canada.     Massachusetts  fitted  out  a 
fleet  carrying  a  force  of  two  thousand  men, 
while  New  York  dispatched  another  army  up 
the  Champlain  route  to  Montreal,  on  a  small 
scale  like  the  Wolfe  and  Amherst  combination 
sixty  years  later. 

Here,  again,  the  adequate  organisation  was 
lacking.  The  route  from  Albany  to  Montreal 
that  thwarted  well-equipped  forces  at  a  later 
day  proved  too  much  for  New  York's  little 


1^1: 


i; 


144 


CANADA 


1 1 


Hi 


■':  » 


ehusetts  commander,  and  his  fleet  of  smajl 
»h.ps,  got  up  to  the  walls  o(  Quebec,  and  by  a 
messenger  led  blindfold  into  the  redoStoble 
Frontenac's  presence  in  the  citadel,  he  offe^ 
that  haughty  noble  an  hour  to  give  up  the 

rage,  and  all  but  he  were  for  shooting  the 
hapless  envoy  on  the  spot.  For  two  thousind 
PM„      "k^^"*  ""t"  ""«<'  'he  defences,  and 

2Z    ^i  ^'"^   ''™   »""    t-o   thousand 
muitia.     His    answer,    growed    Fronterac 
would   be  sent   by  his  Ws.    The  BoS 
men,  however,  landed,  and,  half-starved  and 

for  thr^"?'  '""^u*  «f  ^""y  ""der  the  vaSs 
„fc-  ^^  ^^^'  "^hen  they  retired  to  the  s.iips 
™  J  A  ^?^y  middled  by  Frontenac's  clmon 

s^ge'of  Oueb^°"\"'*''  *u"<="'*y-     ThisXst 

M,t  I  A  "°^'  however,  been  forgottm  in 
Massachusetts,  for,  though  unsuccfssfu  Tt 
was  a  spirited  enterprise. 

There  is  little  calhng  for  notice  here  of  the 
fifty  years  that  passed  away  in  Canada  be.-bre 
the  Canadians  were  called  upon  to  Rahri^ 

rrtir^^''^""'^-  chr^-rncfa 

or  state  had  in  no  way  touched  them  tnd 
the  Iroquois  still  held  the  balance  of  poiT 

II  ^"l  f '*"*"*  'he  French  with  sucX 
the  whole  of  the  northern  and  weXn 
Indians  began  to  tremble  and  talk  ab^ut  Se 


mo' 


THE  FRENCH  IN  CANADA       145 

English.     If  the  French  gave  the  Iroquois  a 

I     lesson  the  Indian  nations  shouted  again  for 
the  French.     If  the  Five  Nations  had  ever 
turned  against  the  British  Colonies,  with  the 
]     French  and  the  rest  of  the  savages  behind 
k     them,  it  would  have  been  a  grave  matter. 
*     But  the  British  managed  to  keep  them  con- 
sistently friendly  or  neutral.     They  did  little 
in  the  great  war  of  1755-60,  for  the  early  French 
victories  effectually  shook  their  confidence; 
and  nothing  but  the  genius  of  Sir  William 
Johnson,  an  Irish  gentleman,  who  lived  in 
picturesque  backwoods  pomp  on  their  borders, 
and  had  the  gift  of  Indian  diplomacy  highly 
developed,  would  have  kept  them  neutral. 

When  the  long  war  was  over  in  1760,  and 

the  British  took  possession  of  Canada,  the 

Canadians,  though  staunch  enough  to  the  last, 

were  sick  of  fighting.     Quebec  was  a  heap 

of  ruins,  and  the  farms  over  large  districts 

were  wasted  by  the  English — not  wantonly, 

for  Wolfe  was  in  command,  but  by  the  stern 

necessities  of  war.     The  districts  untouched 

jjy  its  scorching  trail  had  suffered  the  neglect 

I    inevitable    when    a    nation    of    farmers    is 

■     called  to  arms.     They    had   been   swindled 

and  cheated,  too,  by  a  gang  of  official  ruffians 

at  Quebec,  who  found  part  of  their  deserts 

;     afterwards  in  French  prisons ;  and  this  made 

I    these  years  of  misery  harder  to  bear.     To  the 

^5    mass  of  the  people,   English  nile,   with  its 


1      :i 


146 


CANADA 


calm,  and  the  returning  prosperity  it  brought, 
c^n^«  as  an  immense  relief.     It   is  curious 
that  the  class  which  most  frankly  recognised 
this,  and  were  ready  to  acknowledge  it  with 
their    swords    and    tongues     when    danger 
threatened,  were  the  gentry  and  clergy,  whose 
feelings  of  national  honour  were  much  more 
sensitive,  and  who  had  suffered  such  pangs 
in  defeat  and  conquest  as  the  bravest  resist- 
ance   cannot    avert.     The    stolid    habitant 
had  little  of  this.     He  went  back  to  his  parish 
and  his  fan  i  after  the  war,  and  such  slight 
changes  as   might  affect  him  were  greatly 
to  his  advantage.     The  con.'^e.s— levies,  that  is, 
of  enforced  labour  for  government  service- 
were  abolished,   while  the  English  criminal 
law,  more  merciful  than  the  old  French  code, 
was  adopted  with  universal  approval.     The 
seigneurial    system    ^^'as    left,    and,    indeed, 
was    not    abolished    for    nearly    a    century. 
The  British  Government  wished  in  this  matter 
to  meet  the  desires  of  the  French,  and  in  so 
doing    faced    much    unpopularity    with    the 
Anglo-American    trading    community    that 
settled  after  the  conquest  in  Montreal  and 
Quebec.     The  French   Catholic  Church  was 
left  absolutely  intact,  as  it  was  found,  and  as 
It   remains   to   this   day.     It    was,    and    is, 
practically  established,    that    is   to   say,   its 
clergy  are  supported   by  a   tithe   or  dime, 
literally  about  a  twentv-sixth  of  the  value  on 


THE  FRENCH  IN  CANADA       U7 

produce— a    legal   payment    which    can    be 
enforced  by  law.     A  man  can  only  escape  it 
by    calling    himself    a    Protestant,    and    as 
proselytism  is  never  attempted,  and  the  people 
are  all  ardent  Catholics,  such  an  apparent 
subterfuge  would  be,  in  the  ordinary  way, 
incredible.     Under  the  old  French  rule  the 
tithe  was  not  a  legal  enactment,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  it  was  a  matter  of  course.     A 
habitant  refusing  his  church  dues  to  the  parish 
priest,    if    the    supposition    were    possible, 
would  have  been  peremptorily  dealt  with  by 
the  paternal  autocracy.     The  Quebec  Act  of 
1774,  which  is  sometimes  called  the  Charter  c ' 
French-Canadian  liberties,  legalised  the  tithe 
payment,  as  the  British  Government  were  not 
prepared  to  follow  the  vigorously  paternal 
rule  of  the  French  king's  officials,  and  enforce, 
if  the  need  should  arise,  mere  custom,  particu- 
larly as  regards  a  communion  to  which  they 
did  not  belong.     Those  framers  of  the  Act  con- 
sidered, at  the  time,  that  it  was  equitable 
to  place  the  revenues  of  the  universal  Church 
of  the  Canadians  out  of  danger,  in  a  country 
that  was  to  be  ruled  for  the  immediate  future, 
at  any  rate,  mainly  by  Protestant  aliens. 

There  was  no  question  of  hardship  to  the 
tithe-payer,  even  if  he  had  grudged  the 
payment ;  it  was  a  purely  technical  matter. 
But  the  American  Revolutionists  made  this 
and  the  concession  of  their  land  laws  to  the 


w 


'I   I 


1:^  I 


; 


1 

% 

;■! 

148 


CANADA 


FVench-Canadians  prominent  items  in  the  list 
of  indictments  they  formulated  against  the 
British   Crown.     The  civil   law   of   French- 
Canada  was  for  years  a  source  of  endless 
trouble  to  the  Government.     The  guarantee 
given  to  the  Canadians  at  the  surrender  of 
Montreal  m  1760,  and  afterwards  confirmed, 
promised  that  their  religion  should  remain 
unmolested,  and  likewise  their  laws,  so  far 
as   was   consistent   with   the   safety   of   His 
Majesty  s  Government.     Their  criminal  law 
they  all  gave  up  gladly.     But  when  it  was 
attempted  to  introduce  English  law,  juries 
in  cml  cases,  and  so  forth,  in  place  of  the 
old  French  system-a  prodigious  confusion 
arose      What  with  English  judges,  jobbed  out 
from  home,  who  could  not  speak  French ;  with 
itigants  who  could  not  understand   En^rlish 
law,    or    even    the    English    language,  "and 
sometimes  French  judges  who  knew  neither 
and  quietly  followed  the  French  code,  things 
got  into  a  hopeless  muddle.     The  wholesale 
trade  of  the  country  having  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  British  merchants  in  the  cities,  they 
loudly  demanded  English  law.     The  British 
authorities  were  really  anxious  to  be  just 
and  a  vast  amount  of  evidence  was  called  for 
and  given  by  experts.     French  law,  moreover, 
had  been  very  cheap,  and  the  habitants,  like 
tneir  Gorman  cousins,  were  constitutionally 


\  .5  "II 


THE  FRENCH  IN  CANADA       U9 


* 


The  seigneur  had,  no  doubt,  settled  most 
of  such  disputes  in  former  days;  but  the 
seigneurs  after  the  conquest  had  dwindled 
in  number  and  consequence,  and  British 
residents  of  grasping  habit  were  freely 
appointed  as  magistrates,  with  only  their  fees 
as  remuneration.  These  fees,  following  Eng- 
lish custom,  were  too  high,  and  many  of  the 
magistrates,  trading  on  the  litigious  nature 
of  the  habitants,  provoked  them  to  expensive 
suits  till  numbers  of  the  poor  fellows  found 
themselves  .s  cripped  of  everything.  Ultimately, 
a  civil  code  was  evolved,  mainly  according  to 
French  custom,  but  largely  modified  by  Eng- 
lish adaptations,  which  worked  quite  smoothly 
and,  subject  to  some  alterations,  obtains  to  this 
day.  One  instance  of  these  early  difficulties 
may  be  cited.  The  French  habitant,  with  a 
touch  of  cunning  thrift  that  lay  at  the  bottom 
of  his  otherwise  unsophisticated  nature,  saw  no 
sport  at  all  in  being  confined  for  a  day  or  two 
in  a  jury  box  without  pay,  while  members  of 
the  seigneurial  class  stoutly  objected  to  sitting 
cheek  by  jowl  with  "  butchers,  bakers,  and 
peasants."  Many  British  Canadians,  mostly 
New  Englanders,  made  these  concessions  to 
the  French  a  cause  of  bitter  complaint  against 
the  Crown,  and  thought  that  the  Canadians 
should  be  dragooned  into  Britishers  ;  that 
Catholicism,  if  not  actually  suppressed,  should, 
as  then   in  England,   be  ignored  and   carry 


150 


CANADA 


11  f 


M 


political  disfranchisement ;  that  the  French 
langui^e  should  be  rigorously  excluded  in 
all  pubhc  proceedings,  and  that  the  feudal 
and  system  should  have  CNl J'ou?^ 
It  wa^  argued  that  a  smaU  populaHon  rf 
sixty  thousand  mainly  iUiteratepS  could 
^nd  Wi^lf'^f  ^^,  P^«»'='=  -ndVstT^g 
out  of  Z  ^  ^^"^'^  ?'  P"*^''  «nd  seigneur! 
out  of  the  way,  a  simple  matter  by  m4ns  of 

compensation,    a   little    rigour    in  7,?ritn^l 
matters  for  a  generation  wasf  i^a  ^^1^ 

rl„.^-  f  numbers  of  intelligent  Anglo- 
STu^  '°  thi^day  think  some  such  cZ^ 

caufe  of  "rl"?"  'f  r**  *""  ">us  the  S 
cause  of  Canada's  future  difficulties  disposed 
of.  It  was  considered  that  the  French  S 
on.  showed  factious  ingratitude  for  age^erous 

S'htC  ^i"'"  «!.»  without  ^e^m^ 
k!>m    ^   Harsh  as  such  a  measure,  put  into 
bold  words  m  this  amiable  20th  centu?y.^; 
sound  to  the  reader  unconversant  with  the 
complications  of  that  and  the  ensuinrperiod 
they    are    not    whoUy    without    logic      One 
obvious  objection  to  this  is  that,  in  ?he  kmeri! 
ean  invasions  of  1773  and   1812-15?  aSive 
sympathy  on  the  part  of  the  ftench  woJd 
have  insured  Canada  to  the  Americans.     T^. 
retort  is  that  the  British  GoveSiment  onihe 
first  occasion,  would  not  have  relied  on  the 
Canadian  rural  militia,   who  did  remL'n  ii? 


^ 


iva<«rwrssEnst 


THE  FBENCH  IN  CANADA       151 


1 

i 

i 


hostile  neutrality,  but  would  have  garrisoned 
Canada  to  the  small  extent  required  for 
the  purpose.  As  regards  the  war  of  1812, 
the  retort  is  the  same. 

This  school  of  opinion  argues  that  by  a  firm 
but  benignant  material  rule  of  a  people  who 
were  accustomed  to  one-man  government, 
a  rigid  exclusion  of  outside  French  influences, 
and  a  steady  non-recognition  of  language 
or  sectarian  or  racial  aspirations,  this  wedge 
of  old-world  France,  the  mass  of  it  illiterate, 
could  have  been  automatically  reduced,  with- 
out any  practical  hardships,  to  a  nullity  before 
the  rapidly-increasing  English-speaking  popu- 
lation. Left  to  himself,  the  habitant  was  a 
contented,  light-hearted,  amazingly  unsophis- 
ticated peasant,  with  no  ambitions  beyond 
his  domestic  affairs;  and  six-sevenths  of  the 
sixty  or  seventy  thousand  French- Canadians 
were  of  this  type.  Even  to-day  this  description 
of  him  would  stand  with  some  modification. 
But  to-day  the  city  population  is  large;  then 
it  was  trifling  This  opinion  has  it  that  the 
aspirations  of  the  clever  Frenchmen  in  higher 
life  would  have  been  forced  into  English 
channels,  and  in  time  the  old  regrets  would 
have  passed  away  Such  views  are  stated 
here  because  they  were  very  generally  held 
and  loudly  voiced  by  tL^  British  community, 
largely  from  New  England,  who  settled  after 
the  conquest  in  Quebec  and  Montreal.    If  they 


152 


CANADA 


ri.*.of  rJC*  •         ^  *^"'"^  *^«  early  policv  of 

make  in  support  of  ^unU  k;\    •    ,P  ^*   *° 
Tliic  i;^o  •     f^""*  "^  such  historical  regrets 

the  .Lt  to  b^e  tr^ed  iJ^^irer^r;,?^^^" 

be  accused  of  ingratitiiH**      t#-  •        /  iraniay 

SattLde'ofr^ie^P^^^^^       temperament 
ine  attitude  of  the  French-Canadians  to-day 


w 


"c;  •'■ifci.^rY-  ■'ate*£^":a:' 


■^^ 


I 


THE  FRENCH  IN  CANADA       158 

is  simplicity  itself  to  any  one  familiar  with 
the  Domimon,  and  even  with  the  elements 
of  Its  history.     The  French  now  and  at  all 
tnne^  save  for  some  sporadic,   and  rather 
anti-Bntish    than     pro-American,     outburst 
m  the  past,  are  unequivocally  opposed  to 
absorption  in   the   United  States.     Individ- 
uality and  recognition  as  a  French  community 
is    their    persistent    aim,    narrow   in    scop'e 
though  It  may  seem.     They  know  perfectly 
well  that  absorption  into  the  great  Republic 
would  reduce  them  to  relative  insignificance, 
^ot  even  a  theoretic  advantage  })resents  itself 
to  any  sane  French-Canadian,  while  the  dis- 
advantages are  obvious  to  a  school-boy.    The 
French-Canadian's   loyalty    or,    if   you    will, 
adhesion  to  the  British  connection,  is  fixed 
for  him  by  fate.     Thirty  or  forty  years  ago. 
it  used  to  be  said,  when  a  leaning  towards 
annexation  was  not  uncommon  among  Br**^'' 
Canadians,  that  in  the  event  of  an  Angle  • 
American  war  a  French-Canadian  would  be 
found  lining  the  last  ditch;   and  this   was 
figuratively  true.     It  would  still  be  true  bu; 
for  the  fact  that  there  are  no  longer  any 
annexationists   to   be  found  among   British 
Canadians  born. 

But  when  it  comes  to  enthusiasm  for  the 
British  Empire  as  a  whole,  or  a  readiness 
to  forward  her  aspirations  elsewhere— just 
or  otherwise,  matters  nsthing— the  French- 


lit: 


u 


154 


CANADA 


Canadian  is  quite  cold.     It  is  unfair,  perhaps, 
to  expect  otherwise  of  human  nature.     These 
sentinients  are  fine  things,  but  they  are  racial. 
French  loyalty  is  indisputable,  but  it  is  quite 
uninterested  in  the  British  Empire  outside 
Canada,  and  objects  to  assist  it,  for  good  or 
iJi,  m  any  other  part  of  the  world.     Even  in 
matters  concerning  the  defence  of  the  Colonial 
Empire,  including  Canada,  it  is  more  than 
lukewarm  from   some  fear  that  ships  thus 
paid   for   by   themselves   nr"^ht   be   used  in 
distant  seas,  even  though  such  action  made 
for  the  safety  of  Canada.     A  large  party  in 
iJritish  Canada  resent  this  negative  attitude, 
and  they  who  hold  that  England  should  have 
taken  stronger  measures  in  old  davs,  point  to  it 
among  the  other  results  of  a  mistaken  mag- 
nammity      Where,  they  say,  is  any  gratitude 
shown  for  a  liberality  that  the  French,  it  is 
quite  certain,  would  never  have  dreamed  of 
showing  in  the  18th  century,  had  the  situa- 
tions been  reversed  ?     The  French,   on     he 
other  hand,  deny  that  more  should  be  req      ed 
of  them  than  a  loyalty  to  the  British  cc  raec- 
tion,  and  to  the  King,  as  to  which  there  is 
no  sort  of  doubt.     They  cannot  be  expected, 
they  maintain,  to  feel  the  same  as  men  of 
British  blood,  m  Canada,  Australia,  or  New 
Zealand,  about  thin^^s  outside  Canada.     For 
It  must  be  understood  at  once  that,  though  the 
British  and  ^rench  are  now  pulling  together 


III 

""hi 


I 


THE  FRENCH  IN  CANADA       155 

pretty  well   in  polities,  and   have  each   the 
welfare,  according  to  their  different  lights,  of 
their  country  at  heart,  they  have  little  in 
common  as  individuals,  and  scarcely  mix  at 
all  m  orivate  life.     This  is  of  less  consequence, 
as  with  certain  exceptions  they  occupy  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  country.     Broadly  speaking, 
the  only  rural   English  in  the  province  of 
Quebec  are  collected  in  a  particular  quarter 
known    as    the    Eastern    Townships,    which 
were  settled  over  a  century  ago  by  British 
people,    now    steadily    giving    way:     while 
in  Ontario  the  French  are  so  relatively  few 
as  to  count  for  nothing.     But  in  the  great  city 
of  Montreal,  of  over  four  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants,  where  the  French  are  much  more 
than  half  the  population,  the  two  races  in  no 
class  of  life  mingle  together  to  any  extent  worth 
mentioning.     Religion   is   one  great   barrier, 
for  the  Canadian  Roman  Church,  which  has 
great  power,  objects  to  mixt J  .  ..arriages.    The 
use  of  different  tongues  is  an  equally  effective 
one.     And,  as  the  two  peoples  have  different 
ideas  and  traditions,  there  is  nothing  to  break 
these  barriers  dowa 

The  typical  French-Canadian  is  neither 
restless  nor  ambitious.  He  loves  Canada, 
mainly  represented  in  his  mind  by  the  old 
province  of  Quebec,  as  an  old  country  is 
loved  by  its  inhabitants.  He  does  not  think 
of  it  as  stretching  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 


If 


l.-fi 


CANADA 


Pacific,  or  iuei  -ny  particular  pride,  like  the 
British    Canadfaa,    in   the   conquest   of   the 
wilderness,     v  vhe  opening  out  of  new  pro- 
vinces,    -r    ir.    v-nsus    statistics,    unless    to 
regret  th      . \e\  lis  own  prolific  race  cannot 
keep    pace    ^.k\i  the    British,   even   without 
imniigratio.  l     I  -  r  is  not  nearly  so  enterprising 
and  promiatnt  ij     n^rr  :  *   3  life  as  his  British 
compatriof    ,<iu]o  as      larmer  the  habitant 
lags  far  ben  ad     .  i  a.    <>  not  regard  money- 
making    as    01*     ,'-i      .,upreme    importance 
as  his  ne^Laour,  and  is  inclined  rather  for  a 
quiet,   contented  life.     When  compelled  to, 
he  leaves  French-Canada  with  a  pang,  and 
generally    returns    to    it    if    possible.     The 
habitants,   considering  the  condition  of  the 
world  around  them,  are  still  in  most  parts 
extraordinarily    simple-minded.     They    now 
receive  a  free  rudimentary  education  entirely 
controlled  by  their  Church,  and  framed  with  a 
view  rather  to  religion  and  morals  than  to 
material    opportunities.     Among    the    more 
educated  classes  of  the  French,  who  all  live  in 
or  abound  the  cities  and  towns,  there  is,  of 
course,  a  certain  proportion  imbued  with  what 
may  be  called  the  North-American  spirit,  while 
in  professional  and  political  life  there  is  no 
lack  of  ability.     But  it  is  the  nile,  not  the 
exceptions,  we  are  concerned  with  here. 

France  practically  lost  touch  with  Canada 
after   the   Revolution.     Every   circumstance 


^^^5J?'KT'3f3Evrr 


4 
^ 


THE  FRENCH  IN  CANADA        157 

from  the  British  conquest  onward  conspired 
to  part  the  Motherland  from  her  oJd  colony  so 
effectually  that  a  re-union  passed  out  of 
possibility,  and  even  out  of  desire,  in  quite 
early  days.  The  powerful  Catholic  Church 
alone  has  set  its  face  resolutely  away  from 
a  Motherland  whose  religious  vagaries  have 
seemed  shocking  to  it  It  has  consistently 
and  at  all  times  declared  its  unflinching 
loyalty  to  Protestant  kings  that  are,  at  any 
rate,  the  symbol  of  an  established  Christian 
faith,  though  a  once  hated  one,  and  at  whose 
hands  they  have  themselves  been  so  well 
treated.  A  strong  sentimental  feeling  for 
France,  nevertheless,  still  exists,  but  is  more 
apparent  among  the  class  who  are  affected 
by  literature,  and  the  literature  read  in  French- 
Canada  is  almost  entirely  French.  The 
University  and  collegiate  education  of  the 
province  is  admirable.  It  would  be  ridiculous 
to  pretend,  however,  that  the  two  races  like 
one  another,  though  the  term  dislike  in  any 
active  and  personal  sense  would  be  too  strong. 
They  have  made  no  blend,  as  the  English  and 
Dutch  Protestants  in  New  York  State,  for 
instance,  did  long  ago,  though  such  would 
have  no  doubt  proved  an  excellent  one. 
But  the  pushing,  active,  material,  and  unsym- 
pathetic Briton  lives  side  by  side  with  the 
easy-going,  light-hearted  French-Canadian; 
and  so  they  seem  likely  to  continue  without 


158 


CANADA 


,j 


any  fusion  to  speak  of  to  the  end  of  the  chapter. 
It  must  not  be  thought,  however,  that  all  the 
French  are  enclosed  within  the  ring-fence  of 
the  province  of  Quebec,  any  more  than  it 
must  be  supposed  that  there  are  no  British 
outside  its  towns  or  its  Eastern  Townships 
districts.  For  of  these  last  there  are  many 
groups,  mainly  in  the  western  parts  of  the 
province. 

A  curious  instance  of  race  fusion,  though 
it  is  quite  unique  and  dates  back  to  the  very 
earliest    possible  period,   1761,   is   found   on 
the  north  shore  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  eighty 
miles  below  Quebec — practically  the  terminus 
on  that  bank  of  civilization.     For  two  un- 
cleared seigneuries  here  were  given  to  a  couple 
of    Highland    officers,    who    planted    upon 
them  their  disbanded  soldiers.     These  men, 
cut    off    from    everything    British,    married 
French  wives.     Their  children  became  French 
and  Catholic,  and  there  are  whole  districts 
to-day  of  French  habitants  bearing  Scottish 
names,   and   having   nothing   but   that   fact 
and   the   vague   tradition   of  their   Scottish 
ancestry  to  remind  anyone  of  their  origin. 
In  the  old  days,  wherever  the  French  fur 
trade  had  a  fort  and  station,  there  naturally 
grew  up  a  small  resident  population  indepen- 
dent of  seigneurial  custom.     Around  Detroit, 
for  example,  on  both  sides  of  the  boundary 
line,  a  large  residuum  of  French  population 


J' 


THE  FRENCH  IN  CANADA       159 

remained.  At  the  Sault  St.  Marie,  and,  above 
all,  on  the  Red  River,  where  Winnipeg  now 
stands,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  French  blood. 
French-Canadians,  too,  are  to  be  found 
following  various  avocations  all  over  Canada. 
Thousands  of  them  work  in  the  lumber  camps, 
regardless  of  situation.  Some  have  settled 
permanently  in  the  new  North-West.  But 
this  in  no  way  alters  the  fact  that  the  province 
of  Quebec  is,  so  to  speak,  their  fatherland, 
to  which,  unless  when  actually  settled  as 
farmers,  most  of  them  look  forward  to 
returning.  Thousands  of  them  go  to  work, 
too,  in  the  New  England  factories,  there 
maintaining  a  separate  existence,  and  accom- 
panied by  their  priests.  Thv  earnings  there 
gathered  are  frequently  taken  back  to  be 
spent  or  invested  in  their  own  country. 
Whatever  their  virtues  or  their  failings,  the 
French-Canadians,  as  a  whole,  though  gather- 
ing a  minor  share  of  the  wealth  of  the  country, 
are  possibly  the  happiest  of  all  Canadians, 
and,  after  all,  that  is  a  great  deal 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE   MARITIME   PROVINCES 

The  one  exception  in  the  eastern  half  of  the 
present  dominion  of  Canada  to  a  natural 
open  space  fit  for  habitation  is  the  salt  marsh 
country  on  the  inside  or  western  coast  of  Nova 
Scotia.  It  is  barely  a  pin's  head  on  so  vast  a 
surface.  But,  historically,  these  salt  marshes 
have  some  importance,  since  it  was  they 
which  attracted  and  fixed  the  earliest  perma- 
nent settlers  in  Acadia,  the  name  for  long 
applied  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  the  adjoining 
mainland,  now  New  Brunswick.  These  first 
comers  were  Frenchmen  from  the  western 
district  of  the  Loire,  speaking  broadly,  who 
had  been  accustomed  at  home  to  dyke  out 
and  cultivate  salt  marshes.  The  French- 
Canadians,  as  opposed  to  these  other  French- 
men who  were  and  still  are  known  as  Acadians, 
came  mainly,  as  we  have  shown,  from  northern 
France,  and  became,  of  necessity,  sons  of  the 
forest,  whether  as  farmers  and  axemen,  or  as 
fur  traders  and  voyageurs.  The  Acadians, 
however,  took  at  once  to  the  rich  marshland 

160 


iiil 


THE  MARITIME  PROVINCES     161 


I 


and,  for  this  very  reason,  never  took  kindly 
to  the  axe,  or  the  labour  of  clearing  forests  off 
much  poorer  land  than  their  own,  which 
needed  only  the  less  toilsome  and  more 
familiar  work  of  banking  out  and  dyking. 
This  is  interesting  as  the  only  bit  of  eastern 
North  America  where  man  ever  lived  in  or 
cultivated  this  kind  of  country,  where  he 
had  little  to  do  with  trees,  except  those 
apple  orchards  with  which,  true  to  the  cider 
instincts  of  their  Motherland,  the  Acadians 
surrounded  their  simple  homesteads. 

The  pioneering  days  of  Acadia  are  concerned 
with  the  same  generation  and  connected  with 
the  earliest  permanent  settlement  of  Quebec. 
English  at  first,  as  well  as  French,  took  part 
in  these  little  early  settlements,  with  their 
frequent  disputes  and  their  royal  charters, 
granted  one  year  and  revoked  the  next. 
They  are  so  confusing  that,  for  readers  who 
only  want  the  broad  story,  it  is  better  to  keep 
clear  of  them.  England's  early  claim  to 
Acadia  and  Canada  was  on  the  strength  of 
Cabot's  discoveries  in  1497.  That  of  France 
was  on  account  of  many  settlements,  none 
of  them  permanent,  as  the  last  chapter 
showed,  till  that  of  Champlain  at  Quebec 
in  1620.  From  a  desire  to  avoid  confus- 
ing our  story  with  details  about  parchment 
colonies  or  little  companies  of  adven- 
turers without  definite  aims,  I  omitted  to 


^1 


1«2 


CANADA 


■J 


meation  that  an  English  admiral,  Kirk,  sailed 
up  the  St.  LawTence  in  1629,  and  found  Cham- 
plain  and  his  people  so  near  starvation  that 
Quebec  was  surrendered  at  once,  and  Kirk 
figured  almost  more  as  a  deliverer  than  a 
conqueror.  The  people  were  left  undisturbed, 
but  the  country  remained  nominally  English, 
till  the  Treaty  of  1632,  three  years  later. 
It  is  worth  noting,  in  view  of  all  that  came 
after,  that  France  insisted  on  this  restoration 
for  her  "  honour's  sake,"  rather  than  for 
material  value;  and,  Charles  I.  being  on  the 
throne,  England  gave  in,  though  reluctantly. 
This  is  important  because  it  formally  recog- 
nized the  right  of  France  to  Canada  and 
Acadia,  for  the  latter  had  been  frequently  a 
tilting  ground  of  adventurers  of  both  nations. 
There  are  a  considerable  number  of  baronets 
to-day  in  England  who  bear  the  name  of  Nova 
Scotia  on  their  patents,  for  James  I.,  about 
the  time  of  his  leaving  Scotland  for  his  double 
crown,  granted  the  whole  of  Acadia,  regard- 
less of  a  prior  French  settlement,  to  Sir  William 
Alexander,  afterwards  Lord  Stirling.  So  far 
as  it  went,  this  was  a  purely  Scottish  enter- 
prise, the  only  Colonial  venture  ever  made 
by  that  nation  before  the  Union  of  the  crowns, 
which  occurred  at  this  time.  Shadowy  grants 
were  paid  for,  not  always  without  compulsion, 
in  order  to  interest  people,  and  "  Nova  Scotia 
baronets  '*  were  freely  made,  sometimes,  it  is 


hi 


rsr 


.^  ,»ji'i 


THE  MARITIME  PROVINCES     168 


said,  against  their  will.  The  settlement  came 
to  nothing,  but  the  name  Nova  Scotia,  which 
a  century  later  was  resumed,  has  significance 
as  derived  from  the  only  Scottish  colonial 
enterprise  undertaken  under  purely  Scottish 
kings. 

In  1632,  then,  we  get  a  clear  start,  with 
France  in  recognized  possession  of  what  are 
now  the  maritime  provinces,  as  well  as  of 
Canada.  The  Acadian  population  of  the 
salt  marshes,  on  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  unmo- 
lested, and  outside  the  current  of  the  world, 
increased  to  several  thousand  souls.  They 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  organised,  semi- 
feudal,  much-governed  French  of  Canada. 
There  were  no  seigneuries  or  vassals  here. 
They  were  communities  of  peasants,  governed 
or  guided  by  their  priests,  and  yet  more 
unsophisticated  than  their  compatriots  in 
Canada.  Imaginative  poetry  has  painted  the 
Acadians  in  glowing  colours  ;  hard  fact  draws 
a  rather  different  picture.  Besides  these 
earth  tillers,  on  the  fertile  west  coast  of  Acadia, 
were  numerous  settlements  of  French  fisher- 
men on  Cape  Breton  Island,  which  is  merely 
the  northern  part  of  Nova  Scotia  cut  off  by  a 
narrow  strait.  There  was  no  seriou'  trouble 
between  them  and  the  Micmac  Indians  of 
the  country ;  on  the  contrary,  there  was  a 
good  deal  of  intermarriage,  and  when  the 
wars  with  England  began,  this  close  alliance 


i 


F  2 


164 


CANADA 


li 


made  great  trouble  for  the  British  Govern- 
ment and  the  British  settlers.  For,  after 
Marlborough's  wars,  by  the  Treaty  of 
Utrecht  in  1713,  a  most  favourable  one  to 
England,  Acadia  was  ceded  to  her.  But 
no  definition  as  to  whether  Acadia  included 
the  present  New  Brunswick,  which  it  vaguely 
did,  was  expressed.  So  a  good  store  of 
desultory  quarrelling  was  laid  up  for  a  later 
day.  Cape  Breton,  however,  was  reserved  by 
France.  It  is  poor  soil,  but  was  a  great  resort 
of  her  fishermen,  and  regarded  as  an  invaluable 
training  ground  for  her  navy.  She  then  began 
to  create  and  fortify  Louisbourg,  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  became  a  dominant  power  in  the 
North  Atlantic.  In  the  meantime,  the 
Acadians  increased  in  Nova  Scotia,  as  the 
province  was  henceforward  designated.  No 
British  to  speak  of  would  settle  in  a  country 
where  sullen,  unfriendly  French  peasants 
were  more  or  less  allied  with  bloody  Micmac 
Indians.  The  priestly  word  had  gone  out 
to  both  that  a  British  heretic  was  a  limb  of 
Satan,  and  that,  when  safe,  his  killing  was  a 
meritorious  action.  For  thirty-five  years  a 
solitary  garrison  or  two  of  New  England 
soldiers,  under  a  British  officer  as  Governor, 
represented  the  British  power  in  Nova  Scotia, 
bored  to  death  in  the  lonely  woods,  and 
occasionally  interested  in  forbearing  efforts  to 
make  the  Acadians  take  the  oath  of  allegiance 


THE  MARITIME  PROVINCES     165 

to  the  British  Crown.  But  the  priests,  repre- 
senting Quebec,  its  government,  and  its 
Church,  denounced  such  logical  and  natural 
procedure  as  a  high  oiEfence,  not  only  against 
their  race,  but  against  the  Almighty.  There 
is  nothing,  therefore,  to  be  said  either  for 
or  against  the  stubborn  attitude  of  these 
unfortunate  people. 

All  this  was  during  Walpole's  "  Long 
Peace,"  when  England  was  fat  and  prosperous 
at  home,  and  not  keenly  alive  to  colonial 
trifles.  So  when  in  1742  that  first  war  with 
France  broke  out  which  preceded,  with  an 
interval,  the  Seven  Years'  War,  the  anomalous 
spectacle  was  presented  of  a  British  colony 
whose  inhabitants,  untaxed,  and  treated  with 
entire  forbearance,  had  refused,  not  from 
individual  reluctance  but  from  superstitious 
pressure,  to  yield  allegiance  co  their  king. 
But  Louisbourg,  which  had  market  connec- 
tions, as  well  as  political  influence,  with  the 
marsh  inhabitants  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  had, 
by  maritime  annoyances  and  a  land  raid  or 
two,  roused  the  New  Englanders,  who  were 
then  most  in  touch  with  Nova  Scotia,  to  the 
most  dashing  performance  achieved  by  any 
American  Colonists  prior  to  the  Revolutionary 
war.  Supported  by  four  British  warships, 
four  thousand  New  England  militia,  farmers 
and  mechanics,  led  by  an  amateur,  besieged 
Louisbourg,  with  a  most  skilful  combination 


166 


CANADA 


v\ 


ri^ 


of  artillery  fire  and  impetuous  attack,  and 
finally  captured  it.  The  town  had  been 
fortified  at  vast  expense  by  the  great  engineer, 
Vauban,  was  garrisoned  by  two  thousand 
regular  troops,  and  had  been  declared  impreg- 
nable. This  remarkable  performance,  coming 
at  a  time  when  the  war  was  going  poorly  in 
Europe,  created  enthusiasm  in  England,  and 
bells  were  rung  and  guns  fired  in  honour  of 
the  brave  New  Englanders.  To  the  disgust, 
however,  of  the  latter,  at  the  peace  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle,  in  1748,  France,  which  was  ready  to 
give  up  almost  anything  for  Louisbourg,  was 
again  placed  in  possession,  and  made  it 
stronger  than  ever. 

Great  Britain  now  turned  her  attention  to 
colonising  Nova  Scotia,  and  this  is  interesting 
as  the  first  attempt  at  any  organized  move- 
ment of  the  kind,  all  our  colonies,  hitherto, 
having  been  founded  by  chartered  companies 
or  individual  enterprise.  It  was  felt  tiiat  a 
counterpoise  to  Louisbourg  must  be  created, 
and  large  numbers  of  disbanded  soldiers, 
without  means  of  living,  as  was  always  the 
case  after  war  in  those  hard,  old  days, 
were  at  large,  and  unprovided  for.  It  is 
a  recognized  fact  of  this  period  that  tht 
French  idea  of  a  good  harbour  in  founding 
a  settlement,  or  naval  station,  was  one  with  a 
narrow  mouth  that  could  be  easily  closed, 
while  the  English  fancy  was  the  exact  opposite, 


THE  MARITIME  PROVINCES     167 

namely,  a  harbour  with  an  open  mouth  from 
which  ships  could  sail  out  readily  and  strike  at 
an  enemy.  Louisbourg  and  Halifax  are  cases 
in  point.  So,  on  the  beautiful  harbour  a 
hundred  and  thirty  miles  west  of  Louisbourg, 
Halifax  was  founded,  in  the  year  1749,  by 
some  four  or  five  thousand  immigrants, 
the  Government  assisting  with  the  usual  pre- 
liminaries of  convoy,  survey,  house-building, 
and  provisions. 

The  military  type  of  settler  from  the  mother 
country  was  not  well  suited  to  the  plodding 
labour  of  colonial  pioneering,  and  the  near 
neighbourhood  of  the  new  town  was  infertile. 
Still,  Halifax  got  a  good  start,  New  Englanders 
took  heart  and  came  into  the  province,  while 
Germans,  Swiss,  and  more  British  from 
Europe,  to  the  number  in  all  of  three  or 
four  thousand,  followed  soon  afterwards  and 
broke  fresh  ground  on  the  coast.  But  the 
French,  always  sanguine  that  Nova  Scotia 
would  some  day  again  be  theirs,  set  them- 
selves to  make  inland  colonization  impossible 
for  the  English.  The  Acadians,  now  nearly 
ten  thousand  in  number,  on  the  fertile 
western  coast  of  the  narrow  province,  were 
instigated  by  truculent  priests,  officially  in- 
spired from  Louisbourg  and  Quebec,  to  make 
life  impossible  for  the  owners  of  the  province, 
outside  the  range  of  their  guns.  The  Mic- 
mae    Indians    proved    even    more   effective 


f 


hi 


«- 


I- 


168 


CANADA 


agents.    The  French  and  English  each  had 
garrisoned  forts,   opposing  one  another  on 
the  isthmus  which  joins  Nova  Scotia  to  the 
mainland,    for    that    mainland,    afterwards 
New  Brunswick,  was    still   claimed    by  the 
French,  though  without  treaty  warrant.     The 
province  being  in   this   electrical  condition, 
when  about  1754  war  was  again  imminent, 
the  British  Governor  at  Halifax  had  to  take 
steps  to  insure  the  good  behaviour  of  the 
Acadians,    now    these    forty    years    British 
subjects.     Once  more  an  oath  of  allegiance 
was    proffered,    and    again    rejected;     how 
much  on  account   of  priestly   coercion  and 
how  much  from  native  doggedness  cannot  be 
discussed  here.    A  final  opportunity  was  now 
offered  to  the  Acadians,  for  war  had  already 
broken  out.     They  could  either,  they  were 
told,    be   enemies   and   treated  as   such,   or 
friends    and    remain    quiet.     Obviously    no 
middle  course  was  possible.     Misdoubting  the 
threats  of  the  long-suffering  British  Governor, 
Lawrence,  they  once  again  rejected  his  terms, 
though  solemnly  warned  that  this  was  their 
last  chance.     Yet  they   were  thunderstruck 
when  they  found  that  it  really  was  so,  and 
that  their  wholesale  removal  from  the  province 
was  actually  and  literally  to   be  enforced. 
Then  only,  at  this  eleventh  hour,  these  hapless 
dupes  came  forward  with  belated  offers  to 
take  the  oath.     "  No,"  said  the  Government, 


N 


THE  MARITIME  PROVINCES     169 

'*  you  are  too  late,  allegiance  thus  proffered  is 
not  worth  having."  Nor  was  it.  Then 
followed  that  memorable  deportation  which 
Longfellow  has  idealized  in  his  celebrated 
poem  of  "  Evangeline."  About  six  thousand, 
with  such  portable  goods  as  they  could  cany 
away,  were  transported  in  British  ships  to 
various  parts  of  North  America.  The 
remainder  had  either  already  taken  the  oath 
or  escaped  into  the  woods.  A  portion  of 
the  exiles  ultimately  found  their  way  back 
again.  The  lot  of  the  rest  was  miserable,  for 
no  one  seems  to  have  wanted  them,  and  least 
of  all  their  own  compatriots  in  Canada. 

These  people  have  been  idealized  by 
imaginative  writers  from  Longfellow  onwards. 
But  the  scant  evidence  of  outsiders  who  knew 
them  suggests  small  cause  for  such  ornamenta- 
tion. They  were  in  part,  no  doubt,  the 
ignorant  tools  of  French  agents,  priests  and 
others,  whose  whole  object  was  to  make  a 
British  province  uninhabitable  to  British 
settlers,  in  the  hope  of  recovering  it.  A 
great  war  had  virtually  begun,  and  armies 
were  already  in  the  field.  A  population  of  ten 
thousand  souls  in  a  British  province,  deeply 
dyed  already  with  assassination,  and  avowedly 
unfriendly,  was  at  that  time,  in  that  situation, 
an  impossibility.  The  innocent,  beyond  a 
doubt,  suffered  with  the  guilty,  and  their 
fate  was  hard,  but  for  this  they  had  their 


'^F — tr 


ITO 


CANADA 


f  k 


compatriots  alone  to  thank.  In  another  chapter 
we  have  seen  how  Louisbourg  was  captured 
by  the  British  in  1758,  and  utterly  destroyed, 
and  the  French  power  extinguished  upon 
the  continent.  Thenceforward  Nova  Scotia 
enjoyed  unbroken  peace.  Settlement  went 
slowly  on  under  an  established  Government 
at  Halifax,  till  the  great  influx  of  the 
expelled  loyalists  after  the  American  War  of 
Independence. 

We  told  in  a  former  chapter  of  this  re- 
founding,  ;this  real  beginning  of  active  and 
populous  life  in  the  maritime  provinces.  For 
when  nearly  thirty  thousand  people,  strong 
in  the  most  valuable  elements  that  make  for 
strength,  descended  upon  a  scattered  com- 
munity of  about  fourteen  thousand  of  mixed 
and  very  ordinary  composition,  it  was 
inevitable  that  the  latter  should  be  in  a  sense 
submerged.  It  was  mentioned  also  how  a 
wing  of  this  loyalist  influx  occupied  the 
mainland — for  Nova  Scotia  is  nearly  an 
island — ^and,  with  St.  John  as  their  base,  moved 
up  the  great  river  of  that  name  and  founded  the 
province  of  New  Brunswick.  The  history  of 
the  maritime  provinces,  compared  with  that  of 
the  two  Canadas,  is  uneventful.  Politically  it 
mainly  centres  in  the  struggle  for  Responsible 
Government,  achieved  about  the  same  time 
as  in  the  Canadas,  but  unaccompanied  by  such 
violence  and   bitterness  as  there  obtained. 


THE  MARITIME  PROVINCES     171 


From  the  horrors  of  war  or  even  from  serious 
dread  of  it,  these  provinces,  owing  to  their  situa- 
tion, have  always  enjoyed  complete  freedom. 
The  loyalists  here  had  not  quite  such  a 
hard  beginning  as  those  of  Upper  Canada, 
though  it  was  hard  enough.  They  were 
nearer  the  outer  world,  for  one  ihing,  had 
the  advantage  of  sea  traffic  and  markets,  and 
could  more  readily  avail  themselves  of  their 
pensions  and  compensation  money  when 
it  came.  They  were,  moreover,  ^Uvays  in  a 
large  numerical  majority.  The  later  Arntn- 
can  influx  which  poured  into  Upper  Canada, 
and  so  complicated  matters,  had  no  'oiit.  er- 
part  in  the  maritime  provinces,  while  the 
Acadians  counted  for  nothing  politically. 
Such  later  immigrants  as  came  in  there  were 
mainly  Scottish  Highlanders,  simple,  law- 
abiding  folk,  who,  for  the  most  part,  settled 
in  particular  districts,  especially  Cape  Breton, 
and  retained  their  own  tongue.  The  loyalists 
had  it  virtually  all  their  own  way,  and  had  no 
rivals.  The  higher-class  people  among  them, 
accustomed  to  leadership  in  their  old  states, 
came  naturally  to  the  front.  The  same 
intense  hatred  of  the  new  American  notions, 
and  determination  to  keep  their  adopted 
country  free  from  every  taint  of  them,  which 
animated  the  Upper  Canadian  Tories,  dis- 
tinguished those  of  the  sea-board  provinces. 
But  in  this  they  had  an  almost  easy  task. 


1 


172 


CANADA 


u 


M 
m 


\'<  :!i 


i 


For  half  a  century,  though  the  constitutions 
of  the  two    provinces— for    Prince   Edward 
Island,  virtually  settled  at  the  same  time,  needs 
a  separate  word— were  identical  with  those 
of     Canada,    the    actual     Government     was 
in   the  hands   of  a   very   similar    oligarchy. 
In   Nova   Scotia  Halifax  left   all   the   other 
little   towns  that   sprang   up   immeasurably 
behind.     It    never    had   an   approach    to   a 
rival,    and,    as   the    capital,    dominated    the 
province.     British  ships  and  regiments  gave 
it  a  worldly-wise  atmosphere,  and  materially 
helped  the  leading  circles  of  the  loyalists  to 
maintain    British    traditions.     An    exclusive 
society    arose,    from    which    the    Legislative 
Council  was  selected,  and  the  elective  Assem- 
bly for  half  a  century  gave  it  little  trouble. 
There  was  scarcely  any  Americ-i  element  as  in 
Canada  to  make  protest,  while  li.e  old  country 
immigrants  were  not  of  the  kind  to  intervene 
much  in  politics.     The  mass  of  the  loyalists 
in  whose  way  favours  did  not  come  more  or 
less  accepted  the  leadership  of  names  they 
knew,  and  there  was  probably  no  cause  of 
serious     complaint.      For     class     distinction 
counted  for  much   in  those   days,   even   in 
America. 

During  the  war  of  1812-15,  the  maritime 
provinces  prospered  greatly,  doing  a  flourish- 
mg  export  trade  while  the  United  States' 
ports  were  closed,  victualling  British  ships 


THE  MARITIME  PROVINCES     178 


and  armies,  and  profiting  no  little  by  the 
privateering  that  was  then  going  forward  on 
all  sides.  The  life  of  the  Nova  Scotian  was 
rather  different  from  that  of  the  Canadian. 
The  land,  with  some  exceptions,  was  not  so 
good.  The  climate,  though  a  trifle  milder, 
was  inclined  to  fog.  Wheat,  the  staple  that 
made  Upper  Canada,  did  not  do  well.  On  the 
other  hand  there  was  always  the  alternative 
of  the  sea.  Fishing,  shipbuilding,  and  trading 
combined  were  at  least  as  important  as 
farming  to  the  maritime  provinces;  while 
lumbering,  which  among  other  things  supplied 
masts  for  the  British  navy,  was  a  leading 
industry,  particularly  in  New  Brunswick. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  the  Highlanders 
as  being  the  only  immigrants  in  any  number 
from  Great  Britain  to  Canada  prior  to  Water- 
loo. At  least  ten  thousand  had  gone  into 
Canada,  and  twice  that  number  had  by  that 
date  found  their  way  into  these  provinces. 
A  few  had  been  planted  as  regiments  or 
fragments  of  regiments.  But  from  all  sources 
the  Highlander  long  preceded  the  Lowland 
Scotsman,  who  later  on  contributed  so  power- 
fully to  the  prosperity  of  the  colonies  and 
gathered  so  much  for  himself.  The  success 
of  the  Lowlander,  as  a  colonist  in  the  19th 
century,  is  natural,  coming  of  a  hardy,  per- 
severing race  of  men  from  a  highly  industrial 
country     But   that   the   men  of   the   West 


rn: 


■  |! 


174 


CANADA 


Highlands  and  islands,  Gaels  of  an  utterly 
different  breed  and  tradition,  did  so  well 
from  the  first  in  Canada  has  always  been 
something  of  a  puzzle. 

Circumstances  rather  than  their  own  volition 
accounted  for  most  of  these  Gaelic  immigrants. 
After  the  rebellion   of   1745    the  Highland 
chiefs  were  turned  into  ordinary  landlords, 
ihey  had  no  more  use  for  crowds  of  men 
existing  as  a  matter  of  clan  right  and  pride, 
tA  l^?  Z^""^'^^  following.     The  Highlands 
had   hitherto   been   not   far   removed   from 
barbarism,  a  region  in  which  personal  industry 
and  systematic  farming  had  practically  no 
existence      The  code  and  standard  of  life  had. 
m  truth,  been  nearer  that  of  the  Iroquois  than 
of  Low  and  Scotland,  which,  in  such  matters, 
was  virtually  identical  with  England.    Labour, 
even  for  the  common  man,   was  despised. 
Herds  of  stunted  cattle  ran  at  large,  and  the 
women    mainly    sowed    and    gathered    the 
wretched  crops.     The  accessories  of  even  the 
humblest    civilization    were    entirely   absent 
among  the  masses.     War,  desultory  fishing, 
and   the    chase   had    been    their    only  seri' 
ous  occupations.     National  feeling,  too,  had 
scarcely    existed     for    the    Highlander    and 
Lowlander  had  hated  one  another  as  heartily 

S-  Z^^'f^'t  ?""?.  Englishman.  And  as  the 
Highland  chiefs  drew  a  considerable  annual 
revenue  of  blackmaU  for  leaving  their  south- 


THE  MARITIME  PROVINCES     1T5 

em  neighbours*  cattle  alone,  this  is  not 
surprising,  even  if  race,  habits,  and  language 
had  not  made  mutual  respect  impossible. 

But  when  all  this  ceased  to  be,  and  the 
Highland  chief,  as  an  ordinary  landowner, 
striving  to  keep  up  with  Lowland  lairds  and 
English  squires,  had  to  look  for  a  rent  roll 
from  economic  management,  and  find  tenants 
capable  of  producing  it,  thousands  of  these 
faithful,  listless  clansmen  had  to  go,  often  to 
make  way  for  sheep.  There  was  no  room  for 
them.  Sentiment  apart,  it  would  have  been 
as  bad  for  them  as  for  their  landlords,  and 
even  for  hhe  country,  that  they  should  have 
remained  in  squalor  on  a  wet  and  poor  soil. 
You  may  compare  to-day  the  crofter  of  the 
west  Highlands,  the  descendant  of  those  who 
remained,  with  the  farmers  of  Nova  Scotia, 
and  of  Glengarry,  in  Ontario,  the  descendants 
of  those  who  went.  The  contrast  is  painful. 
But  it  was  not  merely  as  farmers  these 
expatriated  Highlanders  made  a  happy 
success  of  it.  Their  sons  and  grand  ns 
succeeded  in  the  highest  walks  of  trade  and 
commerce,  and  many  of  the  most  powerful 
firms  in  Canada  bear  Highland  names.  It 
is  altogether  a  wonderful  thing,  not  very  easy 
of  explanation. 

Sometimes  there  was  harsh  treatment, 
and  outsiders  and  philanthropists  did  what 
the  ex-chief  should  have  done.     Sometimei 


Ml 


ilk 


if 


176 


CANADA 


the  landlord  bore  all  the  expense  of  immigra- 
tion himself,  or,  in  some  cases,  the  clansmen 
had,  in  the  interval,  wandered  to  the  cities 
and  striven  to  make  a  living  in  that  uncon- 
genial atmosphere.  Many  of  the  earliest 
emigrants  went  to  North  Carolina  and  Western 
New  York.  But  this  was  before  the  Revolu- 
tionary war,  and  as  they  nearly  all  fought  on 
the  side  of  the  Crown  they  came  afterwards  to 
Canada  and  Nova  Scotia  among  the  United 
Empire  loyalists.  Later  sentiment  likes  to 
picture  the  homesick  Highlander  lamenting 
his  native  glen,  and  sets  his  lament  sometimes 
to  music.  There  is  no  evidence  that  he  ever 
looked  back,  and  it  would  have  been  strange 
if  he  had.  Lord  Selkirk,  himself  a  philan- 
thropic Lowland  peer,  took  a  shipload  to 
Prince  Edward's  Island,  where  they  soon  pros- 
pered. But  that  was  nothing  to  the  thousands 
who  poured  into  Nova  Scotia  and  Canada. 
About  twenty-five  thousand  in  all  came 
into  the  maritime  provinces,  those  who  were 
Roman  Catholics,  a  considerable  number, 
with  their  priests,  and  those  who  were  Presby- 
terians, with  their  ministers.  But  the 
wonderful  thing  is  that  a  race  whose  hereditary 
habit  was  industrial  sloth  and  feudal  attach- 
ment since  time  began,  developed  in  the  first 
or  at  the  latest,  in  the  second  generation,  all 
the  qualities  necessary  to  the  colonist.  The 
elementary  virtues,  valour  in  war,  loyalty  to 


■il    ^' 

•I 


THE  MARITIME  PROVINCES     17T 

those  in  authority,  domestic  affection,  wore 
natural  enough.  But  the  way  that  the 
Highlander,  speaking  generally,  took  his 
place  beside  Lowlanders,  Englishmen, 
Ulstermen,  Germans,  and  races  with  centuries 
of  peaceful  industry  behind  them,  is  a  mar- 
vellous and  strange  thing,  as  if  these  qualities 
had  been  lying  dormant  for  centuries,  only 
waiting  their  opportunity. 

All  this  Highland  influx  took  place  before 
Waterloo,  and  before  other  British  settlers  in 
any  number   cast   eyes   on   Canada.     Many 
of  the  expelled  Acadians  wandered  back  in 
time,  and  rejoined  their  friends  to  form,  as 
they  still  do,  an  element  of  the  population, 
though  a  small  one  numerically,  and  of  little 
force  in  the  community.     Nova  Scotia  after 
Waterloo,  when  the  great  immigration  set  in 
from  Britain  to  British  North  America,  may 
be  described  as  made  up  of  United  Empire 
loyalists,  later  imported  Highlanders,   some 
Swiss  and  Germans,  and  lastly  Acadians,  oc- 
cupying   separate    districts,    and    speaking 
different  tongues ;    the  loyalist  stock  being 
overwhelmingly  prominent  in  matters  political 
and    social.     At    this    day    Nova    Scotia    is 
mainly  composed  of  these  elements,  for  she 
did  not  get  very  much  of  the  later  rush  of 
immigration.     Responsible  Government  was 
won  in  both  provinces,  between  1840  and  1850, 
bv  the  gradual  pressure  of  the  people's  party 


f 
i. 


ir 


i- 


178 


CANADA 


upon  that  of  the  old  oligarchy.  Though  there 
was  a  great  deal  of  asperity,  there  was  scarcely 
any  admixture  of  Americanism  or  disloyalty, 
and  at  the  right  moment  in  both  provinces, 
their  respective  Governors  recognized  the 
principle  of  an  Executive,  or  ministry  chosen 
from  the  p<irty  in  power  for  the  moment. 
Joseph  Howe,  who  led  and  won  the  long  fight 
in  Nova  Scotia,  was  himself  the  son  of  a 
United  Empire  loyalist,  holding  semi-official 
position. 

Nova  Scotia  has  now  four  hundred  and 
sixty  thousand  people.  The  great  majority 
are  the  descendants  of  this  old  population, 
and  this  gives  the  province  a  certain  con- 
servative and  old-fashioned  tone.  I  do  not 
mean  in  the  way  of  aristocratic  ideas,  though 
a  certain  amount  of  this  lingers  in  Halifax, 
which,  with  only  forty  thousand  inhabitants, 
has  been  left  far  behind  in  the  race  by  the 
other  old  and  chief  cities  of  the  Dominion. 
And  yet  Halifax  is  larger  than  the  next  half- 
d?>zen  towns  in  the  province,  outside  the  Cape 
Breton  collieries,  all  put  together.  Ontario 
is  bustling,  modern,  and  in  many  ways  very 
American.  Its  United  Empire  loyalist  origin, 
which  even  forty  years  ago,  in  spite  of  the 
layers  of  British  immigration  overlying  it,  was 
a  constant  topic  of  private  and  public  reference 
and  local  pride,  would  appear  at  first  acquaint- 
ance to  be  almost  crowded  out.    The  country 


THE  MARITIME  PROVINCES     179 

is  just  as  loyal,  and  the  old  influence  undoubt- 
edly is  at  the  bottom  of  it.  But  it  seems  on 
the  surface  a  different  kind  of  loyalty,  which 
is  natural  when  a  majority  of  the  people  are 
come  of  a  later  generation,  and  have  no 
inherited  share  in  the  old  struggles,  and, 
in  truth,  know  very  little  about  them.  But 
in  Nova  Scotia  it  is  quite  different,  though 
most  of  the  people,  being  descendants  of 
Americans,  incline  to  that  nation  in  speech  and 
type.  There  is  no  bustle  there,  save  some 
stir  in  the  north  of  Cape  Breton  Island,  where 
coal,  steel,  and  iron  have  made  a  new  little 
world  of  their  own.  Three  men  out  of  every 
four  you  meet  in  Nova  Scotia  are  of  United 
Empire  loyalist  or  Highland  descent,  and  if  of 
the  former,  will  tell  you  so  very  quickly  and 
with  just  pride.  Their  story  does  not,  of 
course,  include  any  direct  participation  in  the 
sufferings  and  triumphs  of  1812-15.  Nor 
has  there  been  the  same  close  contact  with 
Americans  which  has  acted  both  ways  with 
Canadians,  increasing  the  anti-American  feel- 
ing in  former  days,  but  in  the  long  run  super- 
ficially giving  a  more  go-ahead  American 
atmosphere  to  the  country.  Nova  Scotia  is 
sleepy  by  comparison.  She  has  never  known 
an  exhilarating  leap  forward.  Her  best  lands 
were  all  filled  up  generations  ago.  But  the 
spectacle  of  Canada,  cast  and  west,  making 
such  mighty  strides  due,  in   chief  part,  to 


180 


CANADA 


!»■■ 


i  ; 

i    : 


i    ; 


"U 


,i 

M 

1^1 

I- 

ll 

■  ^ 

1 

•i 

J 

H 

.   t 

i 

successive  waves  of  immigration,  while  Nova 
Scotia  moves  scarcely  at  all  out  of  the  quiet 
rut  of  an  old  country,  is  rather  a  sore  point. 
Her  census  in  1911,  460,000,  shows  no 
advance  in  the  last  decade  ! 

Thousands  of  American  tourists  seek  the 
comparatively  cool  breezes  and  pleasant 
scenery  of  Nova  Scotia  every  summer,  while 
the  Annapolis  Valley  exports  large  quantities 
of  apples.  But  outside  Halifax  and  a  few 
particular  spots,  the  visitor  finds  a  people 
with  post  of  the  characteristics  of  those  who 
are  behind  rather  than  abreast  of  the  world ; 
comfortable  enough  homesteads,  but  gener- 
ally unprogressive  farming,  and  extremely 
primitive  roads,  though  railroads  are  fairly 
numerous.  This  is  from  no  lack  of  elemen- 
tary or  advanced  education.  The  maritime 
provinces  are  as  well  provided  in  both  respects 
as  any  part  of  the  Dominion.  The  small 
minority  who  go  to  the  higher  colleges  are  like 
other  people  with  similar  advantages  through- 
out the  Dominion  and  elsewhere.  But  the 
mass  of  the  country  people  have  lived  out'^ide 
the  stream  both  of  the  old  and  the  new  world, 
and  a  plain  education  at  the  village  school, 
however  sufficient  for  ordinary  purposes, 
does  not  in  the  least  affect  the  outlook  of  a 
secluded  community.  I  lay  stress  on  this  be- 
cause people  in  Great  Britain  are  apt  to  think 
that  all  parts  of  the  Dominion,  and  even  of 


THE  MARITIME  PROVINCES     181 

the  United  States,  because  they  are  com- 
paratively new  countries,  are  necessarily  full 
of  go-ahead  life,  and  this  is  a  great  mistake. 

Many  such  regions  are,  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  old  countries.     Their  people  have 
only  themselves  to  look  to,   and  by   skill, 
science,  or  energy,  to  improve  and  develop 
what  they  have.     A  country,  for  instance,  of 
hundred-acre  farmers  owning  their  own  farms, 
and  by  manual  labour  making  a  respectable 
living,  is  q^iite  a  happy  state  of  things.     But 
from  the  New  World  point  of  view,  it  doesn't 
lead  to  anything  unless   n)u,iiufactures  arise 
or    minerals    are    discovered,    and    factories 
and    mines    cannot    be    everywhere.     There 
is  really  nothing  to  be  done  except  by  scientific 
or  intensive  culture  to  wring  more  out  of  each 
hundred   acres.     But    a    yeomanry   bred   to 
ordinary  farming,  and  able  to  make  a  plain 
living  by  it,  are  not  easily  wound  up  to  such 
reforms,    though    governments    may    make 
efforts.     Besides,    there    is    no    crowding   to 
stimulate   it.     The   Nova   Scotian   does   not 
need  to  divide  up  his  farm  between  his  sons. 
They  go  away,  and  generally  prefer  to  go  away, 
either  to  sea  or  into  business  in  the  towns, 
where    life    is    gayer    and    opportunities    of 
advancement  greater,  or  to  the  West.     As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  young  Anglo-Canadian  of 
all  the  old  provinces  for  thirty  or  forty  years 
has  shown  a  notorious  distaste  for  farming. 


!JI 


-■■-T"j«jr  uIRVtBP^    WHMXm.-- 


Mi 


r 


I  III 


Si-     i 


182 


CANADA 


The  farmers'  sons  have  left  its  heavy,  con- 
tinuous toil,  and  its  limited  prospects,  for 
trades  and  professions  which  seem  to  them  to 
offer  a  brighter  life  and  future  possibilities, 
which  the  plough,  by  its  very  nature,  shuts 
out.  There  has  been  no  "  gentleman  farming  " 
for  a  living  amongst  any  Eastern  Canadians 
since  far-away  days,  when  the  half-pay 
officers  tried  it  and  mostly  failed.  The  higher- 
class  Canadians,  to  use  a  convenient  term, 
have  virtually  never  touched  it.  Large  farm- 
ing, involving  the  employment  of  considerable 
labour,  has  never  paid,  or  been  seriously 
practised  in  any  of  the  old  Canadian  provinces. 
The  low  price  of  produce  has  never  warranted 
a  large  employment  of  high-priced  labour, 
and  the  Canadian  farm  hand  is  almost  averse 
to  working  for  a  man  who  does  not  labour 
beside  him  in  the  field.  Farm  life  is  a  democ- 
racy of  its  own,  apart  from  town  life,  which 
runs  on  different  lines.  The  young  Canadian 
of  liberal  education,  the  son  of  the  banker, 
the  merchant,  the  lawyer  or  doctor,  and  such 
like,  despises  and  always  has  despised  the 
laborious  and  limited  career  of  a  hundred- 
acre  farm,  and  of  the  dull  social  life  that  it 
means  to  him.  Farming  has  no  romance 
for  the  Canadian,  and  the  well-educated  man 
would  regard  it  as  throwing  his  life  away, 
to  say  nothing  of  money — and  a  good  hundred- 
or  two  hundred-acre  farm  in  the  old  provinces 


THE  MARITIME  PROVINCES     188 


* 


costs  a  good  deal.  Townspeople  in  England 
of  all  sorts  quite  frequently  envy  a  farmer's 
life.  This  feeling  is  virtually  unknown 
among  townsfolk  in  Canada. 

But  to  return  more  particularly  to  Nova 
Scotia,  it  will  be  understood  that  a  whole 
region  of  working  farmers  continuing  from 
father   to    son,    with    no    fresh    stimulating 
element   among    them,    and   removed   from 
contact  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  can  appear 
to  the  outsider   backward   and,   in  a  way, 
unsophisticated.     One  common  phenomenon 
about  the  country  people  of  many  parts  of 
Old  Canada,  and  I  should  add  also  of  the 
United  States,  is  a  fixed  idea  that  the  people 
of  Great  Britain  are  behindhand  in  everything, 
and  that  they  know  very  little.     With  people 
remotely  situated  from  the  world's  point  of 
view,  who  still  practise  all  the  little  pioneering 
devices  necessary  to  self-support  in  a  half- 
tamed  or  recently  tamed  country,  this  delusion 
is  still  possible.     The  Briton  comes  from  a 
country  that  has  emerged  from  that  stage 
ages  ago.     He  has  no  skill,  for  instance,  in 
slashing  down  trees  merely  to  get  them  out  of 
the  way,   nor  in  splitting  rails  for  clumsy 
fences,  already  in  advanced  Canadian  districts 
becoming  things  of  the  past,  nor  in  improvising 
makeshifts  when  implements  go  wrong.    Even 
the  country  Briton  is  at  fault  in  all  kinds  of 
rough-and-ready  jobs  that  the  Canadian  docs 


1 


'i    (1 
I    11 


.?'.  ">rj£^imji!'Jiiffa^ji  ss^'-'w^ 


MICROCOPY    RESOIUTION    TEST   CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


I.I 


1^ 

1^ 

IIM 

1" 

|56 

m 

m 

|4^ 

IM 

1.8 


^     /APPLIED  IIVMGE 


Inc 


'65J   East   Main   Street 

Rochester.   New   York        14609       USA 

(716)    482  -  0300  -  Phone 

(716)    288  -  5989  -  Fox 


:lfc^ 


i  i 


1 

m 


^     I 


184 


CANADA 


because  there  has  never  been  any  one  else  to 
do  them  for  him.     But  in  an  old  country  these 
things  are  done  better  and  more  cheaply  by 
the  men  whose  particular  business  they  are. 
Canada,  in  its  best  districts  is  coming  in  all 
these  things  to  be  like  a  perfected  country 
and  all  those  rude  accomplishments,  handed 
down  from  a  pioneering  time,  will  some  day  be 
only  retained  in  the  backward  districts.     But 
the  rural  Canadian  thinks  the  Englishman  at 
fault  because  he  is  awkward  at  such  things, 
which  ^  belong   really  to   a   more   primitive, 
not    to    a    more    advanced,    condition.     He 
looks  upon  him  as  a  weakling,   because  he 
deprecates  a  working-day  lasting  from  sunrise 
till  after  dark.     This  is   partly,    of  course, 
the    inherited    self-imposed    tyranny    of    a 
working  farmer  caste,  where  a  class  of  regular 
labourers  scarcely  exists.     But  already  this 
rather  dismal  creed,  which  was  valuable  in 
pioneering  days,  is  giving  way  on  the  best 
Ontario    farms.     The   Englishman,    on    the 
other  hand,  in  the  maritime  provinces,  and  in 
parts  of  Ontario,  sees  an  old  country  not 
farmed  nearly  so  well  as  an  average  English 
county,  yet  with  many  exceptions  to  prove, 
if  proof  were  needed,  that  this  is  perfectly 
feasible.     He   finds   a  people   who,    though 
friendly   enough   to   the   Old   Country,   are 
vaguely   convinced   they   are   ahead   of   it, 
though    almost    everything    in    their    lives 


■  1 

r  f 


THE  MARITIME  PROVINCES     185 


demonstrates  the  reverse.  All  this  is  natural 
enough  to  a  people  who  live  out  of  the  great 
world,  and  practically  never  come  in  contact 
with  any  one  of  a  different  type  from  them- 
selves. In  a  crowded  coimtry  like  England 
this  particular  form  of  simplicity  and  prejudice 
is  impossible.  The  London  daily  papers  are 
in  every  village.  Even  the  agricultural 
labourer  at  least  sees  men  of  every  condition, 
and  is  familiar,  at  least,  with  the  spectacle 
of  noble  and  historic  buildings,  as  well  as  of  a 
lavish  modern  civilization. 

There  is  a  greater  difference  in  the  ways  of 
life  and  points  of  view  between  town,  even  the 
smaller  town,  and  country  in  the  old  provinces 
of  Canada  than  in  Great  Britain,  where  all 
classes  are  represented  in  the  country  and 
in  various  ways  mingle  together.  In  Canada 
the  country  people  are  practically  all  of  one 
type — of  plain  education,  manners  and  speech, 
and  all  occupied  in  manual  labour  on  their 
own  farms.  They  live  frugally,  though 
plentifully  enough,  without  any  enterprise 
towards  a  varied  diet,  or  much  taste  for  such 
simple  graces  of  life  as  you  would  often  find  in 
England  among  people  of  less  substance  than 
they  represent.  There  is  a  tendency  to  despise 
evidences  of  refinement,  and  to  grudge  all 
time  not  expended  in  practical  work.  This  is 
a  relic  of  pioneering  days,  and  so  notorious 
that  the  city  and  town  people  in  Canada,  who 


i  ^ 


.    -:|.^ 


5«- 


(        1    * 


a 
lit 


186 


CANADA 


live  well  and  enjoy  themselves,  though  they 
\vork  as  hard  as  any  one,  make  it  a  matter  of 
time-honoured  jest.  As  the  farmers  do  not 
make  much  money  this  has  all  the  more  force. 
Town  and  country  do  not  see  much  of  one 
another.  Social  position  or  distinction, 
whether  inherited  or  acquired,  with  the  usual 
habits  and  customs  everywhere  belonging  to  it, 
is  limited  to  the  towns  in  older  Canada,  and 
has  nothing  to  do  with  land  or  its  ownership. 

'*  Fishing  farmers  "  are  numerous  in  Nova 
Scotia,  and  the  people  of  this  province  pride 
themselves  on  being  many-sided  in  their 
pursuits,  characteristics  which  may  account  for 
a  certain  backwardness  in  farming.  In  politics 
and  letters  they  have  turned  out  more  men  of 
ability  for  their  numbers  than  any  other  of 
the  Canadian  provinces,  though  outstripped 
in  the  material  race  by  Central  and  Western 
Canada.  The  maritime  people,  particularly 
the  Nova  Scotians,  p^-ide  themselves  on  the 
above  distinction  and  on  their  overwhelming 
preponderance  over  the  rest  of  the  Dominion 
in  United  Empire  loyalist  blood.  The  coal  and 
steel  industries  of  Cape  Breton  are  so  remotely 
placed  that  they  do  not  greatly  influence  the 
ordinary  life  of  the  province.  They  occupy 
the  country  around  Sydney,  near  where  the 
great  fortress  of  Louisbourg  once  stood. 

New   Brunswick   has   one  large   city,    St. 
John,  which  has  outgrown  Halifax,  and,  like 


I 


THE  MARITIME  PROVINCES     187 

that  city,  but  to  a  greater  extent,  is  an  impor- 
tant open  winter  port  for  the  Dominion  traffic. 
The  story  of  New  Brunswick  runs  very  much 
with  that  of  Nova  Scotia.  The  shape  of  the 
province  makes  for  some  difference  as  the 
original  settlers  pushed  inland  up  river  valleys. 
It  is  a  rougher  and  more  mountainous  country 
than  its  sister  province,  but  had  greater 
spaces  available  for  immigration,  and  received 
between  1830  and  1840  a  larger  influx  for  a 
short  time  than  Nova  Scotia,  but  in  population 
has  always  remained  just  behind,  at  the  last 
census  showing  a  slight  increase.  Twelve 
loyalist  regiments  were  among  its  original 
settlers.  Its  forests,  valuable  for  lumbering, 
are  more  extensive  than  in  Nova  Scotia,  and 
this,  curiously  enough,  was  a  business  that 
the  Highlanders,  who  had  no  trees  in  their 
own  country,  took  .o  most  readily  in  the 
maritime  province  and  it  is  work  that  can 
be  combined  with  i  freehold  farm. 

But,  unlike  Halifax,  St.  John  is  not  the 
political  capital  of  New  Brunswick,  Frederic- 
ton,  a  small  town  eighty  miles  up  the  St. 
John  river,  filling  that  position.  In  popula- 
tion and  characteristics,  and  in  the  fact  of  its 
being,  sa--*  as  regards  St.  John,  a  com- 
paratively ^lOw-going  country,  the  province 
is  much  like  Nova  Scotia.  It  still  possesses, 
however,  vast  uncleared  forests  which  contain 
big  game,  and  many  famous  salmon  rivers. 


18S 


CANADA 


1 

■ 
1 

m 

s 

^^■Sj 

« 

^^R 

fl^l 

M 

^^W- 

" 

While  Novt  Scotia  is  the  resort  of  the  general 
American  tourist,   though   it,   too,   contains 
some  game  and  many  fish,  New  Brunswick, 
with  its  moose,   caribou,   deer,   and  salmon, 
is   a   paradise   for   the   wealthy   spoilsman. 
Prince  Edward  Island,  first  seriously  settled  by 
American  loyalists,  has  a  population  of  ninety 
thousand,  showing  at  the  last  census  a  marked 
decrease,   and,   as    before    mentioned,   is   an 
island  peopled  by  yeomen  farmers  much  of 
the  type  we  have  just  touched  upon,  and  with 
Highland    blood    very    much    in    evidence. 
Chariottetown   is   the   little  capital,   and   it 
seems  rather  absurd  that  this  small  country 
should  not  have  been  attached  to  one  or  other 
of  the  neighbouring  provinces,  as  it  is  within 
easy  sight  of  their  coasts.     However,  it  has  its 
Parliament,    and   more   than   that,    its   two 
Houses    and    Executive.     It    was    granted 
originally  to  a  number  of  proprietors  for  mili- 
tary or  other  services,  real  or  supposed,  on 
the  usual  terms  of  plantmg  settlers.     For  the 
most  part  they  neither  planted  settlers  nor 
gave  up  their  proprietary  rights,  while  many 
had  sold  these  rights,  making  the  complication 
still  greater.     The  political   energies  of  the 
island  were  mainly  occupied  in  endeavours 
to  shake  off  this  incubus,  and  free  the  rents 
that   were   still   demanded   from   the   actual 
settlers    who    had    cleared    and    made    the 
country.     About    the    time    of    Federation, 


;l 


THE  MARITIME  PROVINCES     189 


after  a  hundred  years  of  dispute,  this  question 
was  finally  settled.  It  is  a  happy,  contented, 
aloof  fragment  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  and 
though  an  island,  surrounded  by  good  fishing 
grounds,  more  interested  in  agriculture  than  in 
fish,  and  when  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  is 
frozen  in  winter,  carries  on  its  communi- 
cations with  the  outer  world  across  the  ice. 

The  maritime  provinces  provide  an  interest- 
ing contrast  in  many  ways  to  the  rest  of 
British  Canada.  Their  people  are  popularly 
known  as  "  Blue  noses,"  and  are  proud  of  the 
soubriquet,  bestowed  upon  them  long  ago 
by  the  Yankees.  For  in  the  loyalist  exodus 
they  emphasised  the  fact  of  being  "  true 
blues  "  so  forcibly  that  their  enemies  adopted 
this  sneering  application  of  it,  which  was 
frankly  accepted  as  a  badge  of  honour,  and 
proves  a  convenient  colloquial  term  to-day 
for  the  whole  group.  Some  day,  perhaps, 
these  provinces  will  undergo  a  material 
transformation,  for  they  abound  in  mineral 
wealth.  But  at  present  they  go  quietly 
and  happily  along,  only  here  and  there  feeling 
the  impetus  that  is  pushing  the  Dominion 
forward  at  such  a  rate.  The  visitor  to  Canada 
finds  something  of  relief  in  an  almost  old- 
fashioned  pec  jle,  not  wholly  given  over, 
though  doubtless  they  would  like  to  be,  to 
materia^  growth,  and  its,  in  some  ways,  rather 
deadening  effect. 


i|:l 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE   PRAIRIE   PROVINCES   AND    THE    RISE 
OF   THE   NORTH-WEST 


1 


The  prairie  country  is  generally  known,  and 
has  hitherto  been  always  known,  as  the  North- 
West,  It  begins  about  one  thousand  six 
hundred  miles  west  of  Halifax,  and  con- 
sequently about  two  hundred  miles  west 
of  the  half-way  line  across  the  continent ; 
while  its  most  southerly  point  lies  further 
north  than  the  populated  parts  of  Eastern 
Canada.  Till  1869  the  North-West  had  no 
existence  for  Canada.  It  was  an  unknown 
wilderness,  used  as  a  fur-trading  ground  by 
the  Hudsons  Bay  Company,  and  under  their 
jurisdiction.  Early  in  the  century  Lord 
Selkirk,  the  philanthropic  promoter  of  High- 
land immigration  to  Canada,  had  planted  a 
handful  of  Scotch  agricultural  settlers  there, 
who  v/ere  brutally  used  by  the  fur  traders.  The 
antagonism  of  the  traders,  who  resented  all 
intrusion,  together  with  the  inaccessible 
nature  of  the  country,  and  the  bad  reputation 
of  its  climate,  hid  it  from  the  world  as  behind 
a  curtain  for  many  generations 

i»o 


THK  PRAIRIE  PROVIXC^.S       Idl 


no 


a 


It  took  the  officials  and  servants  of  the 
fur  companies  ten  weeks  to  travel  through 
the  wilderness  by  canoe  from  Montreal  to 
Fort  Garry,  which  stood  on  the  site  of  Winni- 
peg. Before  1870  Canada  terminated  where 
the  fertile  western  peninsula  of  Ontario  abuts 
upon  Lake  Huron.  The  former  steady  influx 
of  settlers  had  practically  ceased.  All  the 
good  land  in  Old  Canada  had  been  occupied, 
and  most  of  it  converted  into  finished  farms, 
while  the  rest  was  rapidly  becoming  so.  On 
maps  and  plans  there  were  still  great  tracts 
of  forest  behind  the  northern  edge  of  the  good 
and  settled  up  countries,  offered  for  settlement. 
But  oversea  immigrants,  who  had  the  other 
colonies  and  the  United  States  for  selection, 
would  have  none  of  it;  it  was  too  poor. 
The  Canada  of  that  day  was,  in  short,  filled  up. 
If  any  were  to  open  up  the  forest  regions  still 
available,  it  was  such  natives  of  the  country 
who  had  no  better  alternative,  and  they 
did  so  in  a  halting  fashion.  Would-be  immi- 
grants knew  now  what  clearing  land  in  Canada 
meant.  The  heavy,  continuous  axe  work, 
the  slow  progress,  the  years  of  waiting  till 
the  stumps  could  be  removed :  this  was  well 
enough  on  good  land.  It  had  raised  thousands 
of  poor  labouring  men  to  the  position  of 
comfortable  farmers.  But  going  through  these 
years  of  toil  to  possess  only  indifferent  land 
at  the  end  of  it  was  quite  another  matter, 


192 


CANADA 


it- 


m 


i 


3  i 
1 1 1 


and  this  was  thoroughly  understood.  The 
Canadian  provincial  governments  and  land 
companies  placarded  the  English  railway 
stations,  offering  free  grants  or  cheap  lands, 
in  vain.  Iney  were  not  worth  touching. 
The  British  pu  lie,  with  so  many  other  outlets, 
was  quite  right.  The  "  Backwoods  of  Canada  " 
for  fifty  years  had  been  almost  synonymous 
with  the  word  emigration,  and  the  departing 
emigrant  was,  as  a  matter  of  course,  going 
to  be  a  "  backwoodsman."  Tae  expression 
lasted  among  stay-at-home  people  in  England 
long  aft*"r  it  had  ceased  to  have  any  meaning. 
For  years  after  the  movement  to  the  prairies 
had  set  in  the  friends  of  the  settlers  there  still 
spoke  of  the  absent  ones  as  "  backwoodsmen." 
Parliamentary  orators  still  occasionally  do  so. 
In  1870  Canada  seemed  as  if  she  had  stopped 
and  would  grow  within  the  limits  nature  had 
set  here  merely  as  an  <  Id  country  grows  ;  as 
Nova  Scotia  has  done,  for  instance.  Rebellions 
and  wars  seem  always  to  have  marked  im- 
portant changes  in  Canada*s  history.  The 
Canadian  Government  took  over  at  this 
moment  the  "  Great  Lone  Land,''  as  a  much 
read  work  of  the  day  called  it,  in  1869,  from 
the  Hudsons  Bay  Company.  The  latter  had 
clouds  of  half-breed  French-Indian  and  Scotch- 
Indian  employees  who  had  homesteads  around 
Fort  Garry,  which  had  become  a  little  town. 
The    change    caused    fear    and    discontent 


1'    ! 


THE  PRAIRIE  PROVINCES       198 


had 
;   as 


among  them,  and  they  now  rose  in  rebellion, 
deposed  the  Government,  and  judicially  mur- 
dered a  prominent  Ontario  man.  This  brought 
up  a  military  expedition  ander  Sir  Garnet, 
afterwards  Lord  Wolseley,  who  laboured  lor 
weeks  through  the  old  wilderness  trail  of  the 
fur- traders.  The  usurping  Government,  so- 
called,  collapsed  at  the  approach  of  force,  and 
Riel,  a  visions ry,  partly-educated  French  half- 
breed,  who  was  the  head  of  the  insurrection, 
fled  to  the  States.  This  was  the  first  peep  the 
outer  world  had  into  the  great  North- West. 

Manitobc,  was  now  made  a  province.  Fort 
Garry,  on  the  Red  River,  was  named  Winni- 
peg, and  the  present  writer  saw  the  old 
wooden  fort  still  standing  in  the  embryo 
city  a  few  years  later.  Manitoba  became  a 
subject  of  both  interest  and  mystery  in  Old 
Canada.  A  lew  people  :vent  up  there  to 
farm  with  the  vague  hope  that  some  day  a 
railroad  might  reach  them,  for  there  was  no 
market  then  for  produce.  They  grew  heavy 
crops  of  everything,  the  flat  rich  prairie  land 
being  of  extraOirdinary  'ertility.  Grasshoppers 
sometimes,  and  at  others  early  autumn 
frosts,  or  destructive  hail-storms,  did  serious 
damage.  It  was  to  the  interest  of  the  fur- 
traders  to  make  out  that  farming  was  too 
risky  from  all  these  auses  to  make  the 
country  a  desirable  one  for  settlement.  In 
the  seventies,  however,  the  p'  3sent  Canadian 


194 


CANADA 


i  r\ 


I        I* 


I.     r 


Pacific  railroad  was  first  thought  of.  People 
could  even  then  ge»-  into  Manitoba  through 
Minnesota  by  rail,  but  when  on  the  edge  of  it 
there  was  nothing  more.  The  railroad 
promoters,  however,  who  were  identified  with 
the  Conservative  party  in  the  Dominion 
Government,  thought  it  would  be  a  glorious 
thing  for  the  Empire  to  be  able  to  carry  troops 
across  the  continent  to  the  East,  in  case  of 
need,  as  the  United  States  railroads  would  not 
be  available  for  such  a  purpose.  It  was 
understood  by  now,  too,  what  hundreds  of 
miles  of  splendid  land  lay  awaiting  the  plough. 
But  people  were  greatly  divided  as  to  whether 
the  average  man  or  woman  could  stand  a 
series  of  such  terribly  cold  winters,  and 
whether  the  risk  to  crops  was  not  too  great 
for  any  real  and  extensive  settlement  in 
the  country. 

British  Columbia  had  pricked  up  her  ears 
at  che  prospect  of  a  railroad,  and  joined  the 
Federation  on  the  strength  of  .  promise  that 
it  should  be  constructed.  For  a  poor  country, 
as  Canada  then  was,  it  seemed  to  many  a  mad 
undertaking.  It  meant  seven  hundred  miles 
through  a  rocky  wilderness  with  costly  engin- 
eering from  Montreal  to  Winnipeg,  and 
eight  hundred  miles  across  a  prairie  barely 
touched  by  settlement,  terminated  by  a 
climb  over  the  unexplored  Alpine  ranges 
of   the   Rockies.     Whence  could  the   profit 


THE  PRAIRIE  PROVINCES       195 

ever  come  for  such  a  line?  It  became 
for  years  the  chief  subject  of  political  con- 
tention at  Ottawa,  the  Conservative  Govern- 
ment, under  Sir  John  Macdonald,  the  prime 
mover  of  Federation,  being  active  su^jp&xlers 
of  it,  while  the  Liberal  party  were  oppon- 
ents of,  at  least,  any  immediate  action.  The 
Grand  Trunk,  which  had  then  lan  for  years 
through  the  best  parts  o!  Canada,  had  so 
far  proved  a  dead  loss.  So  had  the  Inter- 
colonial railroad,  recen  'y  constructed  to  the 
Maritime  provinces,  litre  were  two  thousand 
miles  to  be  compassed  through  a  country  as 
yet  producing  almost  nothing,  and  just  half  of 
it  naturally  barren.  But  the  idea  of  its  coura- 
geous advocates  was  to  carrv  the  people  by 
the  railroad  who  would  settle  on  it  and  make 
it  a  success. 

The  late  Sir  John  Macdonald,  with  Lords 
Strathcona  and  Mountstephen,  were  the  liff 
and  soul  of  what  looked  to  some  a  hopeless 
enterprise.  Their  faith  was  as  great  as  their 
energy.  The  first  lived  to  see  it  successfully 
doing  its  work,  the  last  two  have  lived  to  see  it 
paying  handsome  dividends ;  and  so  far  from 
being  sufficient  to  serve  the  prosperity  it  has 
created,  another  great  line  is  being  built 
parallel  to  it.  There  were  few  capitalists 
in  Canada  in  those  days.  The  railroad  was 
built  mainly  with  British  and  European 
capital,  but  the  financial  difficulties  and  ups 

G  2 


ift- 


\% 


IS 


f  i 


5       1 


196 


CANADA 


and  downs  which  were  caused  by  the  enormous 
outlay  on  construction  were  almost  sensational, 
like  the  engineering  feats  that  carried  the 
road  over  the  Rockies.     By  1881-2  the  four- 
hundred-mile   section  was   finished  between 
Port  Arthur,  the  head  of  Lake  Superior,  and 
Winnipeg ;  and  as  Port  Arthur  could  be  reached 
in  two  days  by  fine  steamers  from  the  heart  of 
Ontario,  this  opened  the  North- West  to  the 
world.     So,   while  the  road  was  still  being 
made  through  wild  Ontario  to  the  east,  and 
over  the  prairies  to  the  west,  the  world  rushed 
in.     A    few    thousand    people    had    already 
spread  over  the  nearer  prairie,  but  nobody  had 
as  yet  heard  very  much  of  it. 

In  1881-2  there  was  a  great  boom.    Thous- 
ands rushed  to  Winnipeg,  which  reached  a 
population  of  thirty  thousand  in  two  years,  and 
small  towns  sprang  up  along  the   railroad 
towards  the  Rocky  Mountains.     The  boom 
was   overdone,   prices   had   risen   to   absurd 
figures,  speculation  was  mainly  in  paper,  and 
there   was   a   disastrous   reaction.     But   the 
boom   opened   the   country   to   the   world's 
knowledge,    left   thousands    of   new   settlers 
behind,  and  put  an  end  to  the  still  lingering 
notion  that  Old  Canada,  ending  at  Lake  Huron, 
was  the  limit  of  the  country  for  all  appreciable 
time.     The  farmers'  sons  of  Ontario  and  the 
Maritime  provinces,   and  often  the  farmers 
themselves,  left  for  the  promised  land.    The 


THE  PRAIRIE  PROVINCES       197 

most  contradictory  stories  were  told  about 
its  crops  and  prospects.  It  was  a  common 
pleasantry  in  Old  Canada  that  nobody  who 
returned  from  Manitoba  could  ever  speak 
the  truth  again.  Agricultural  matters  were 
very  bad  just  then  in  England,  and  nearly  as 
bad  for  the  same  reason  in  Canada.  A  dozen 
years  previously  English  land  had  been 
considered  the  soundest  thing  in  the  whole 
world,  and  now  a  regular  cataclysm  had 
overtaken  it.  Hundreds  of  English  farms 
were  tenantless  and  derelict,  and  lands 
were  vainly  offered  at  prices  which  even  a 
century  before  would  have  been  thought 
impossible. 

Well-established  Canadian  and  Eastern 
American  farms  suffered  from  the  same  cause, 
in  an  only  less  degree.  This  cause  was  the 
opening  of  the  American  West  by  railroads, 
and  the  pouring  in  of  cheap  produce  grown  on 
virgin  soil.  It  was  the  fall  in  grain,  never 
appreciably  to  rise  again,  which  first  upset  all 
these  old  countries.  The  Continent  sought 
safety  in  high  protective  duties.  Great 
Britain  faced  it,  but  half  the  country  went  into 
grass,  while  the  half  that  could  not  grow 
grass  had  terrible  years,  and  has  never  fully 
recovered  its  old  prices  and  prosperity.  Old 
Canada  suffered  too.  Its  lands  went  down, 
but  its  yeoman  freeholders  changed  all  their 
methods  by  degrees,   and  went   into  grass, 


*  'i 


!    ir 


li 


198 


CANADA 


dairying,  fruit,  and  such  like.  But  this  is 
anticipating  a  little.  For,  in  spite  of  the 
railroad  and  immigration  to  the  North- West, 
it  was  a  long  time  before  its  new  population 
had  much  visible  success. 

The   last   links   of   the   Canadian   Pacific 
railroad,  those  through  the  Rocky  Mountains 
to  Vancouver,  were  completed  in  1886,  and 
by  this  time  the  North- West  was  an  accepted 
fact.      The    aspect    of    the    Dominion    had 
now  wholly  changed.     Suddenly,  as  it  were, 
she  had  added  to  herself  a  territory  that 
would  carry,  as  soon  as  they  could  be  put  on 
it,  an  agricultural  population  larger  than  that 
of  all  the  old  provinces  put  together.     So 
much  seemed  even  then  certain.     How  much 
under  the  mark  this  estimate  is  likely  to  prove 
has  now  been  long  understood.     Above  all 
there  was  here  no  laborious  clearing.     The 
prairie  pioneer  began  at  the  point  where  the 
old    backwoods    settlers   only   arrived   after 
about  twenty  years   of   work.      He   began, 
too,  with  generally  better  land,   of  almost 
inexhaustible   fertility.     The   farmer   of   the 
old   provinces  had,   this  long  time,   almost 
everywhere  been  compelled  to   farm  as  in 
England,  with  manuring,  rotation  of  crops, 
and  so  forth.     A  great  deal  of  this  North- West 
would  grow  grain  for  thirty  years  with  unim- 
paired vitality.     The  lighter  land  would  grow 
it  for  perhaps  half  that  time  before  requiring. 


THE  PRAIRIE  PROVINCES       199 

like  Ontario,  Britain,  and  every  other  old 
country,  the  application  of  more  costly 
methods.  This,  with  the  further  knowledge 
of  another  valuable  asset  of  a  different  kind 
in  British  Columbia,  was  the  new  horizon  that 
broke  on  Canada  when  the  Canadian  Pacific 
railroad  reached  the  prairies  in  1881.  For 
then  the  completion  of  the  road  so  long 
doubted  was  a  foregone  conclusion. 

Though  immigrants  poured  in  from  Old 
Canada  and  Great  Britain  tolerably  fast  for 
the  next  fifteen  years,  spread  over  Manitoba 
and  more  thinly  over  the  territories  that, 
with  temporary  governments,  stretched  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  along  the  railroad  and  the 
few  branches  that  were  built  from  it,  it 
cannot  be  said  that  the  results  satisfied 
expectation.  Many  reasons  for  this  com- 
paratively slow  progress  could  be  given, 
but  a  few  will  suffice.  The  grasshoppers, 
to  be  sure,  quickly  ceased  their  visitations. 
The  wheat  crops,  the  great  staple  then,  as 
ever,  of  the  country,  answered  all  the  expecta- 
tions formed  of  them.  In  Old  Canada 
the  main  crop  is  sown  in  the  autumn,  the  deep 
snow  protecting  it  through  the  winter.  But  in 
the  North-West  there  was  not  enough  snow 
for  this  purpose  on  the  windy,  open  prairies, 
while  the  frost  was  even  harder.  So  the 
wheat  is  sown  in  the  spring,  which  throws 
the  harvest  on  into  September,  when  night 


MRS! 


'.'^ 


iif 


I;  f* 


I 

It! 


i    I  i 


■A 


200 


CANADA 


frosts  often  ruined  the  grain  before  it  had 
hardened.     Destructive  hailstorms,  though  in 
a  far  less  degree,  proved  disheartening.     The 
precise  extent  ot  this  annual  damage  matters 
nothing.     It  was  enough  to  make  a  noise 
in   the    world,    and    greatly    influence    that 
part  of  it  interested  in  hnmigration.     Nor  was 
the  average  man  in  Old  Canada  generally 
enthusiastic  about  the  North- West.     It  had 
hit  him  for  the  time  rather  hard,  and  helped 
to  depreciate  the  value  of  bis  land,  which  the 
continuously  low  price  of  grain  aggravated. 
Like  his  English  counterpart,  he  was  suffering 
from  the  competition  of  virgin  soils  in  the 
Western  American  States,  and  from  improved 
transportation  all  over  the  world.     He  had 
not  yet  adapted  himself  to  another  style  of 
farming.     He  cculd  no  longer  sell  his  farm 
if  he  wished  to,  at  the  standard  price  of  a  few 
years   earlier,    and   very    often   not   at   all. 
Buyers  looked   westward,   and   perhaps   his 
own  son,  helpmate,  and  successor,  had  gone 
West,  or,  disheartened  by  low  prices,   into 
business.     Between  1881  and  1891  a  dozen  or 
fifteen  good  agricultural  counties  in  Ontario 
actually  declined  in  population. 

Yet  the  Canadian  North-West,  though  it 
progressed  steadily,  did  none  too  weU.  The 
first  generation  of  settlers  had  to  learn  how 
to  deal  with  a  totally  new  country.  The 
winters  were  terribly  severe.    The  Canadians 


THE  PRAIRIE  PROVINCES       201 

were  used  to  a  zero,  and  often  a  ten  and  twenty 
"  below,"  winter  temperature,  but  the  prairies 
went  at  times  far  lower  than  this.  To  the 
immigrant  from  Britain  this  was  harder  still. 
Most  of  the  new  settlers,  too,  were  people 
of  small  means,  and  not  able,  or  often  not 
experienced  enough,  to  protect  themselves 
properly  from  the  climate.  When  people 
are  properly  housed  in  warmed  buildings 
and  their  stock  in  good  barns,  when  they 
live  near  together,  are  within  easy  reach  of  a 
railroad  or  town,  and  have  telephones  and 
telegraphs,  a  winter  like  the  North-West 
matters  little,  as  there  is  no  farm  work  to  be 
done  in  it.  But  in  the  early  days  the  settler 
had  often  no  near  neighbours,  and  neither 
himself  nor  his  animals  were  well  housed. 
He  was  sometimes  forced  to  leave  a  wife  and 
children  alone  while  he  made  long  and  even 
perilous  trips  for  trifling  but  necessary  things. 
Women  frequently  went  mad  from  the  solitude 
of  the  prairie.  But,  above  all,  the  price  of 
grain  remained  low,  and  the  cost  of  transport 
to  the  world's  [markets  was  still  so  high  that 
even  with  a  good  crop  securely  saved,  it  did  not 
leave  the  prairie  farmer  enough  profit  to 
tempt  outsiders,  with  half-a-dozen  other  fields 
to  choose  from,  to  a  life,  the  hardships  of 
which  had  been  noised  very  much  abroad. 
Farmers  in  Old  Canada  consoled  themselves 
in  their  natural  grievance  against  the  North- 


202 


CANADA 


West  by  enlarging  on  its  drawbacks.    The 
Americans,   eager  for  immigration  to  their 
own  West,  made  great  play  with  the  Manitoba 
wmter.     British  capital  avoided  the  country 
as  if  It  were  not  yet "  proven,"  and  immigrants 
of   substantial    capital    from    Great    Britain 
went  to  the  American  West,  to  say  nothing 
of  other  British  colonies,  at  the  rate  of  thirty 
or  forty  for  one  who  went  to  the  Canadian 
North-West.     There   is   no   doubt   that   for 
naany  years  the  country  had  a  bad  name,  and 
that  Its  well-wishers  were  disappointed  at  its 
slow    progress.     But    this    is    comparative. 
A  steady  flow  of  immigrants,  mostly  of  the 
less  well  endowed  sort,  went  from  Great  Brit- 
ain, and  so  did  the  farmers'  sons  and  others 
from  the  Old  Canadian  provinces.     These  last 
were  t..e  most  successful.     They  were  used 
to  working  from  daylight  to  dark,  and  knew 
how  to  work.     The  British  were  generally 
from  classes  unused  to  farm  work,  and  though 
they  did  not  necessarily  fail,  they  took  a  long 
time  to  realize  what  the  Ontario  man  took  as  a 
matter  of  course,  that  he  was  a  pioneer,  and 
only  hard  work  was  to  be  thought  of.     The 
Englishman  ir  the  last  thirty  years  >  as  lost 
something  of  his  old  reputation.     He  is  apt 
to  be  on  the  alert  for  a  grievance  with  his 
employer,  if  he  has  one,   or  if  on  his  own 
account,  with  his  surroundings,  and  is  credited 
with  an  inclination  to  promote  discontent. 


THE  PRAIRIE  PROVINCES       208 

^nrotph^'^^r'  "^'^^h^^'  Steers  clear  of  this 
reproach.     For  he  is  apt  to  keep  his  own 

'Tf««  ^  ?K  ^'^""^  "^^*  ^'  '^  '^^^'^S  about 
in  i»85  there  was  a  serious  rising  in  th^ 

North- West  of  half-breeds  and  IndZs     Th^ 

causes  were  complicated,  but  in  effect  it  was 

the  old  story  of  civilization  versus  hunting 

rounds    and    savagery.     Several    thousand 

volunteers  from  Old  and  New  Canada  took 

the  held,  and  there  was  some  sharp  lighting. 

with  considerable  loss  of  life,  before  thi  rising 

was  suppressed.     The  leader  was  the  old  rebel, 

S'lfl^n  ^^*^  ^^^  ^^^  rebellion  at  Winnipeg 
m  1870.     He  was  now  captured  and  executed 
The  Indians  throughout  Canada,  it  should  be 
stated    here,    have    been    treated    with    the 
utmost  consideration  and  perfect  good  faith 
from  the  earliest  ti:  :es,  by  the  British  and 
Canadian  Governments.     They  are,  after  all, 
but  few  in  number— some  hundred  thousand 
in  the  whole  of  the  Dominion.     In  the  old 
provmces  they  have  been  leading  more  or  less 
civilized  lives  m     reserves,"  while  in  the  west 
they  live  withm  ample  bounds  allotted  to 
them,  but  lead  a  more  nomadic  existence. 
Ihe  city  of  Winnipeg,  as  the  sole  entrep6t, 

fn^S  f  1  i  ^'?^'^  ^*^^^^>  ^'  ^t  had  been 
T  Z  l}^"^'  ^'^  '^^'^  ^^°w  a«  a  Chicago 
should.  None  of  the  small  towns  strung  along 
the  railroad  increased  as  western  towns  in  a 
rich  country  should  increase.    Population  and 


204 


CANADA 


production  made  steady  progress,  and  hun- 
dreds  of  contented  farmers  who  had  come 
up  with  httle  or  nothing  were  to  be  found 
in  the  land.  But  that  the  North-West,  till 
withm  the  last  year  or  two  of  the  last  century, 
had  disappointed  expectations,  there  is  no 
doubt  A^l  Canada,  indeed,  had  gone  very 
slowly  for  the  previous  twenty  vears.     Both  in 

!^r*i  ^"  n  r.'*  ^^^""^  ^^^  ^  ^^st  amount  of 
solid  well-being  and  quiet  progress.     But  for 
a  new  country  that  had  just  annexed  a  fertile 
slice  of  a  continent,  things  were  not  right. 
Comparisons  between  Old  Canada  and  the 
Eastern    States    in    material    advance    were 
meyitable  and  unpleasant.     Population  barely 
maintained    the    rate    of    an    old    country ; 
Canadians   went   to   the   United   States   by 
thousands.     The  West  of  Canada,  again,  com- 
pared  equally  badly  with  the  American  West 
when  It  came  to  figures.     Nobody  quite  knew 
why,  but  everybody  knew  it  was  so. 

xr  "Lu  «r''^''^®  ""*  ^^^  ^*^*  century  the  Canadian 
North-West  suddenly  woke  up.  Nothing  par" 
ticular  happened  up  there!^  It  had^^een 
going  steaddy  and  slowly  along,  when  the 

iu^a^"  T'^^  '"^^'^y  discovered  it  had  mis! 
judged  the  country.     Two  things,  however 
contributed  to  show  the  world  its  mistake     A 
very  active  immigration  policy  on  the  part  of 
the  Dommion  Government  in  Great  Britain, 
and  even  m  parts  of  Europe,  coincided  with 


IP  I. 


THE  PRAIRIE  PROVINCES       205 

l^^^f^^'^'li^V^  ^"  *^^  '"^^  g^*'**  and  cheap 
Thpn    "^^J^^i  '^^'^'''^   ^"  *^^  United   States 

NoS^  w'^^'^Vu"''*'  ^^^^'^  *°  **^«  Canadian 
North-West     There  were   m^Uions  of  acres 

of  good  land  unoccupied  and  owned  by  the 

wSZr'  ^^^^^  ^^^^^^^^ P^^^fi^  '^^'^^^^ 
m.nf  ^  u  "'^'r'^  ^^**  ^'^s  as  part  pay. 
ment    and  by  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company. 

7hJt  ^l^d.^f^ived  them  in  consideration  o 
their  old  rights.  There  were  free  grants  on 
conditions  of  settlement  and  cultivation,  and 
other  lands  at  a  nominal  pr-ce.  The  American 
oltcfv,  i  generations  among  a  considerable 
dass  had  been  to  take  up  land  on  a  frontier, 
make  a  good  improved  farm  of  it,  sell  if  at  a 
high  price  during  a  buoyant  time,  and  then 
move  on  westward  to  repeat  themselves,  or 
in  the  person  of  their  children,  the  same 
process. 

o« J^^^.3^^  T^''  ^°*  *°  '^eii-  farthest  West, 

tm  r  c^^  *^^*  "P  '"^  ^°°d  ^arms,  worth 
tlO  or  £15  an  acre.     There  was  no  further 

tZrV^Tw  *^i.  suddenly  they  discovered 
that  North-West  Canada  offered  yet  another 
shift  as  promismg  as  any  they  or  their  fathers 
had  ever  made.  Nay,  better,  for  they  soon 
saw  that  no  wheat  land  in  America  had  ever 
been  so  certam  and  produced  quite  such  good 
stuff  as  this  new  country.  So,  all  through  the 
Western  States,  times  being  good,  American 
farmers  sold  their  well-equipped  fenced  farms 


306 


CANADA 


at  high  prices  and  removed  to  the  Canadian 
Aorth-West,   where  they  could  take  larger 
tracts  of  land,  which  would  grow  into  money 
as  theu-  old  farms  had  done,  and  where  there 
was  room  to  settle  their  sons  around  them. 
Conamg  like  this,  they  were  mostly  men  of 
capital,  and  still  more  of  complete  expeiience 
for  the  life,  which  was  precisely  what  they 
had  been  used  to.     They  cared  very  little 
for  the  triflmg    differences   in  government, 
and,  M  a  matter  of  fact,  they  soon  saw  that 
such  difference  as  existed  was  in  favour  of 
the  Canadian  administration,  particularly  in 
the  matter  of  law  and  order.    Many  of  them, 
too,  \7''re  Canadians  or  the  sons  of  Canadians, 
who  had  gone  to  the  Western  States  when 
Canada  offered  nothing  to  the  poor  man  but 
a  backwoods  life,  when  the  best  of  the  back- 
woods period  was  over.    Other  Americans, 
of  course,  not  situated  precisely  as  were  these, 
aJso  wenfr     But  this  was  the  type  that  led 
the   movement,  and   a   more   valuable   one 
could  not  be.    They  began  by  tens  oi  thou- 
sands,  mcreased  up   to  fifty  thousand  per 
annum,    and    took    m    millions   of  pounds, 
wnat  IS  more,  the  country  proved  all  that  they 
expected.     The  question  was,  and  is,  what 
effect    such    a    large    element— till    recently 
American  citizens-mi^ht  have  in  weaning 
the    North-Westem    Canadians    from    theS 
allegiance  to  the  Mother  country.    Canada, 


THE  PRAIRIE  PROVINCES       207 

however,  has  developed  very  strong  national 
feelings,  coupled,  as  every  one  now  knows, 
with  a  staunch  devotion  to  the  Empire.  And 
the  Canadian  verdict  on  this  new  element  in 
their  midst  is  that  they  are  making  "  good 
Canadians."  On  that  satisfactory  and  author- 
itative assertion  we  must  leave  it. 

No  doubt  the  spectacle  of  hard-headed 
Americans  pouring  into  Canada  was  an  object- 
lesson  to  Great  Britain,  and  banished  any 
lingering  doubt  as  to  the  desirability  of  the 
North-West.  Two  hundred  thousand  immi- 
grants have  gone  in  annually  of  late  from  the 
United  Kingdom,  and  largely  *^o  the  North- 
West.  They  are  of  all  sorts,  and  not  generally 
ready-made  sons  of  the  soil,  like  most  of  the 
Americans.  But  a  fair  proportion  are  valuable 
immigrants,  and  the  children  at  least  of  those 
who  are  less  adaptable  will  play  their  part. 
The  change  in  the  state  of  the  country  in  the 
last  dozen  years  is  miraculous.  Winnipeg 
has  leaped  up  to  a  population  of  140,000. 
The  small  towns  along  the  railroads,  which 
languished  for  years,  have  all  grown  mar- 
vellously. It  is  in  the  country  outside  the 
towns,  however,  that  the  most  interesting 
change  has  taken  place.  All  the  way  from 
Winnipeg  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  with 
the  exception  of  some  intervals  of  barren 
country,  there  is  a  continuous  procession  of 
comfortable  homesteads,  as  in  Ontario,  often 


. 


I 


208 


CANADA 


m 


ft 


III' 


of  brick  01   stone,  with  large  outbuildings, 
sheltered  by  plantations,  all  withiii  easy  sight 
of  one  another  and  representing  farms  of  from 
a  hundred  and  sixty  to  six  hundred  and  forty 
acres.     Though  wheat  is  the  great  cash  crop, 
mixed  farming  is  widely  practised,  oats,  hay, 
and    stock    of   all    kinds    being   everywhere 
prominent.    The  fields  out  here  are  large, 
and  being  lenced  with  wire,  the  country  retains 
Its  wide  open  aspect,  utterly  different  from 
Old  Canada,  with  its  small  railed-in  fields  and 
abundance  of  wood.     Most  of  the  vegetables 
and  small  fruits  known  in  England  ilourish 
here,   as   in   Ontario.     Apples,   however,   do 
not  succeed  well,  and  the  orchard  is  the  one 
familiar  object  of  country  life  lacking.     To 
the  original  province  of  Manitoba  two  western 
provinces  of  Saskatchewan  and  Alberta,  filling 
up  the  interval  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  have 
been  formally  united  to  the  Dommion  Con- 
federation.    In   the  three  prairie   provinces 
thore  are  now  1,800,000  people  out  of  seven 
and   odd   million    in   the   whole   Dominion. 
Ten  years  ago  there  were  400,000. 

In  the  history  of  British  colon 'zation  there 
IS  no  counterpart  to  the  rapidity  with  which 
the  North- West  has  grown  in  a  dozen  years. 
The  old  troubles  have  been  largely  overcome. 
In  the  newer  districts,  generally  pressing  in  a 
northerly  direction,  the  pioneer  has,  of  course, 
to  face  the  ordinary  hardships.     But  a  multi- 


THE  PRAIRIE  PROVINCES       209 

plication  of  railroads,  telegraphs,  telephones, 
and  eleva  ors  (great  storehouses  on  railroads 
where   the  farmers   sell    and   deposit   their 
wheat),  anG  many  other  modern  inventions 
have  made  t!ie  life  of  even  the  most  extended 
settlements  less  formidable.     Moreover,  there 
has  been  a  gieat  tendency  to  settle  new  dis- 
tricts collectively.     A  knowledge  of  the  coun- 
try,  too,   what  seeds  to  sow,  and  all  that 
belongs  to  agricultural  science,  has  reduced 
the   danger   of   early   frosts,    and   even   the 
climate,  which  is  generally  the  case  when  a 
wilderness  is  reclaimed,  has  softened  a  little. 
One  great  factor  in  the  progress  of  the 
country   remains   to   be   told.     Though   the 
nrice  of  wheat  in  the  world  has  never  recovered 
its  old  figures,  yet  the  North- Western  farmer, 
owing  to  the  widely  recognized  top  quality  of 
his  grain  and  to  improvements  in  transporta- 
tion, gets  about  double  the  price  he  used  to. 
Formerly,    from   the   cost   of   getting   it   to 
Europe,    the    North-Western     grower    only 
received  about  half  of  even  the  low-marked 
price   in  England.     Growing  wheat   on  the 
virgm  soil  of  the  prairie  is  far  cheaper  than  in 
Great  Britain  or  in  Old  Canada,  where  manure 
and  expensive  preparation  are  necessary.     But 
at  the  old  North-West  prices,  even  with  a 
successful  crop  there  was  not  much  profit  left 
at  2s.  or  2s.  6d.  a  bushel.     It  is  not  surprising 
that  the  world  did  not  rush  in  to  face  a  new 


f 


210 


CANADA 


and  a  cold  country  for  such  results,  toough  the 
people  already  there,  and  those  goi^g  in, 
could  live  on  such  conditions  and  look  f omard 

ground  would  reap  the  benefits.    They  have 

f^^tJ    lu^^^  i°  ^  ^"^^*^^  ^^t«^t  and  more 
mlaf^,,      'J  **u^  '^°'*   sanguine  expected. 
Wheat  now  fetches  in  the  North- West  about 
the  same  price  as  it  does  in  England,  say  4s. 
a  bushel.    The  reader  will  understand  that 
this  represents  profit  and  prosperity. 
1  u     ^''?*   problem   in   the   North-West   is 
labour    for    harvesting.    A    farmer    on    the 
prame  can  seed  far  more  wheat  than  he  can 
narvest,  and  nearly  every  settler  is  himself  a 
farmer     The  latter  have  to  depend  largely  on 
the  year's  inrush  of  immigrants,  and  expensive 
temporary  miportations  of  harvesters  from 
Eastern  Canada,  not  herself  well  supplied  with 
labour.     As  the  area  increases  with  expand- 
ing settlements,  this  supply  will  cease  to  be 

^n^  K  •  u^  u"*"'^  *^^  North- Western  farmer 
wd\  probably  have  to  limit  his  wheat  land  bv 
the  prospect  of  what  his  household  can  harvest. 
Th  s  will  not  be  altogether  a  bad  thing,  as  it 
wUl  hasten  the  movement  towards  more 
generally  mixed  farms. 

hitherto,  together  with  the  moisture  left  in 
the  frozen,  snow-soaked  ground,  sufficient 
for  agriculture  becomes  precarious.    So  great 


'^   V.*iJii,» 


THE  PRAIRIE  PROVINCES       211 

areas  are  placed  under  irrigation  ditches  fed  by 
tne  numerous  fresh  streams  rising  in  the 
mountams,  and  sold  in  smaller  plots  at  much 
higher  figures.  Irrigation  farming  is  in  fact 
another  business.  It  means  heavy  and  sure 
crops  on  a  smaU  area,  and  has  its  own  advan- 
tages, which  are  paid  for  at  the  start.  Cattle 
ranching  is  also  carried  on  in  the  drier  countries 
about  the  foot  hills  of  the  Rockies. 

The  North- West  has  no  history  comparable 
m  interest  to  the  recent  history  of  its  settle- 
ment   and    agriculture.    These    are    almost 
everything.     But  the  settlement  as  regards 
population  is  not  greatly  unlike  that  of  old 
British  Canada.       Communities  of  kindred 
folks  may  be  found  all  over  the  country.  There 
are  foreigners,   such  as   Mennonites,   Douk- 
hobors,   Galicians,  and   Italians.    There  are 
Highland  crofters,  Lowland  Scottish,  Welsh- 
speakmg  Welsh,   French-Canadians,   Scandi- 
navians  and  Swiss,   while  many  to^-nships, 
though  not  so  exclusive,   are  associated  in 
origm  with  particular  districts   of  Ontario, 
the  maritime  provinces,  or  England.  Humanly 
speaking,   the  filling  of  this   vast  country, 
millions  of  acres  of  which,  said  to  be  fertile 
and  habitable,  are  not  yet  touched,  will  proceed 
at  a  rate  calculated  to  make  it  the  centre  of 
population  in  the  Dominion  of  Canada.    As 
the  home  of  a  northern  race  it  has  the  great 
essential  of  enormous  areas,  prolific  in  beef 


I 


212 


CANADA 


and  bread,  with  all  the  accessory  products  that 
belong  to  the  main  supports  of  Me.     Gold, 
silver,  coal,  iron,  fruits,  wool,  tropical  products, 
timber,  can  all  create  wealth  acd  population. 
liut  these  by  themselves  are  not  comparable, 
for  the  up-building  of  a  hardy  race,   to  a 
deep  rich  soU  m  a  bracing  climate,  where 
both  the  essentials  of  a  local  subsistence  and 
food  products  that  the  outer  world  must  have 
are  grown  at  the  door  over  thousands  of  square 
miles.     The  long  cold  winter,  so  severe  on  the 
Ill-protected  earlier  settlers,  is  now  felt  to  be 
no  more  mconvenient  than  that  of  old  Canada, 
borne,  mdeed,  prefer  it  as  steadier  and  brighter, 
while  a  generation  born  and  grown  to  man's 
estate  in  the  country  have  proved  its  qualities 
for  producing  healthy  men  and  women.    The 
old  doubts,  which  were  very  widespread  and 
very  natural,  have  long  been  forgotten. 


■f    ! 


f    i 


CHAPTER   IX 

BRITISH   COLUMBIA 

The  early  history  of  British  government  in 
tnis  prov  .ce  began  some  years  before  the 
foundmg  of  Manitoba.     And  it  did  not  come 
\u^l  °^  Canada,  nor  had  it  anything  to  do 
ith  Canadians.     It  arose  out  of  the  cold 
rush  to  California  m  1849,  which  led  to  the 
discovery   of   gold   in   British   Columbia   in 
1857,  and  a  great  influx  of  gold  seekers  the 
followmg  year.     Hitherto  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Company,   having  reached  their  long  arms 
across    the    Rockies,    about    1806,    had    a 
monopoly  of  trading  with  the  numerous  and 
rather  dangerous  Indians  of  the  Pacific  slope. 
.  ?,•  J^f  ^   numerous   trading   posts   were 
established  on  the  mainland,  and  so.  le  years 
later  one  on  Vancouver  Island,  where  now 
stands  Victona,the  capital  of  the  province.  The 
Hudson  s  Bay  Company  were  always  anxious 
to  get  full   control    of    these  wild  western 
territories,  where  they  made  it  their  business 
to  keep  settlers  out  rather  than  to  bring  them 
m.    They  or  their  associates  had  thwarted 

213 


^^ 


u 


214 


CANADA 


'il 


m 


for  fifty  years  every  attempt  of  outsiders  to 
settle  in  Manitoba,  and  to  the  last  depreciated 
the  country's  agricultural  possibilities  with  all 
the  weighty  authority  of  experience.     In  1847 
they  were  granted  the  sole  possession  and 
government  of  the  island  of  Vancouver,  on 
condition  of  colonizing  it  and  supporting  a 
British  Governor,  but  they  did  neither  the  one 
nor  the  other.     In  1853  came  a  rush  of  thous- 
ands of  gold  miners  to  Victoria,  the  Hudson's 
Bay  station  on  Vancouver  Island,   with  a 
view  to  working  the  discoveries  on  the  adjacent 
mainland.    Upon    this   the    Company    were 
deprived  of  authority,  and  both  the  island  and 
the  mainland  made  a  British  colony  under  a 
British  Governor.     For  a  time  they  remained 
separate  colonies.  New  Westminster,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Fraser,  being  the  capital  of  that 
on   the   mainland.     In    1867,    however,    the 
island  of  Vancouver  and  the  mainland  were 
uni^d  under  one  government  at  Victoria 

The  history  of  both  sides  of  the  Straits  had 
been  one  of  gold  rushes,  followed  by  reaction, 
during  which  a  good  deal  of  farming  and 
building  went  forward.  Victoria  particularly, 
blessed  by  nature  with  a  delight^ll  situation 
on  the  sea,  a  fine  harbour,  with  the  winter 
climate  of  Devonshire,  and  a  summer  con- 
tmuously  fine  and  never  over  hot,  became  a 
favourite  resort  of  naval  officers,  leadmg 
traders,  and  other  men  of  authority  on  the 


on 


BRITISH  COLUMBIA  215 

Pacific   coast.     British   warships   were   con- 
stantly there,  and  the  capital,  as  well  as  the 
surrounding  districts,  grew  up  as  an  isolated 
colony  of  Britons  with  few  of  the  character- 
istics of  a  new  Canadian  settlement.    It  was 
the   same   on   the   mainland.     Besides   gold 
digging  on  the  Fraser  and  Thompson  Rivers, 
farming  and  ranching  were  carried  on  in  the 
valleys  by  men  of  British  stock,  from  the  old 
country  very  largely,  though  frequently  after 
an  interval  of  residence  in  the  States.     There 
was  no  road  through  the  Rockies  to  Canada, 
from  which  the  province  was  entirely  shut 
off.     In  1871,  when  it  was  received  into  the 
Dominion,  people  in  Old  Canada  knew  little 
more  of  the  British  Columbians  than  they 
knew  of  the  Australians.     This  has  left  its 
mark    on    the    province.     All    through    the 
Canadas,  people  speak  and  have  always  spoken 
with  what  is  practically  an  American  accent 
and  intonation.    In  Victoria,  however,   the 
traveller  will  hear  again  the  English  voice  and 
accent.     Everywhere  else  in  North  America 
one    carriage    passes    another,    as    on    the 
European  continent,  to  the  right.     In  British 
Columbia  they  have  kept,  unconsciously,  the 
English  fashion.     These  seem  small  things,  but 
they  mean  a  good  deal.     When  the  Province 
joined    the    Dominion   Federation   in    1871, 
on  the  prospect  of  the  railroad  which  did  not 
reach  it  for  fourteen  years,  its  population  was 


S5 
SI 


?  I 


216 


CANADA 


wm 


about  seventy  thousand,  with  the  two  towns 
of    New    Westminster   and    Victoria    nearly 

t^^f  f^^^  f*^^^,  ^^"^'^   ^    "^^^°w   strait 
twenty  to  thurty  miles  wide. 

The  island  of  Vancouver  rises  up  parallel 
to  and  withm  easy  sight  of  the  mainland  for 
over  two  hundred  miles.     Only  the  southern 
corner,  where  Victoria  stands,  is  cleared  and 
populated  ;   the  rest  is  a  rugged,  timber-clad, 
highland  wilderness.  This  lower  point  actually 
faces  the  State  of  Washington,  and  the  latter's 
Ulympian  range,  seven  or  eight  thousand  feet 
high,  rismg  sheer  from  the  sea,  presents  a 
magnificent  spectacle  from  the  city  of  Victoria. 
iSew  Westmmster,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Fraser, 
IS  withm  a  few  miles  of  the  United  States 
boundary  line.     When  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railway   came   dowix    the   Fraser   River   it 
rejected  for  its  terminus  and  port  the  old  chief 
town  jf  the  mainland,  and  cut  across  to  the 
Burrard  mlet,  where  the  sea  presses  into  a 
long,  narrow  harbour.     On  its  banks  arose  the 
present  city  of  Vancouver,  the  San  Francisco 
of  British  North  America.     A  more  foolish 
name  than  that  bestowed  upon  it  could  hardlv 
have  been  selected,  as,  facing  the  great  island 
of  Vancouver,  it  will  be  for  ever  a  needless 
cause  of  confusion  to  all  the  world  not  con- 
cerned with  the  local  geography.     Equally 
unhappy  was  British  Columbia  in  the  reten- 
tion  of  Its  old  capital,  situated,  as  it  is,  on  an 


MMwawa»feJw=^'-''\jBaM^<if^jc^Biftwify^'it-Mia«p.'  .tacmsp  -qiiimBrB*  m 


BRITISH  COLUMBIA 


217 


island,  never  likely  to  be  thickly  inhabited, 
and  three  hours'  distant  from  the  mainland, 
while  centres  of  population  are  filling  up  in 
patches  hundreds  of  miles  away  in  various 
parts  of  this  large  province. 

So  Victoria  remains  the  political  capital, 
Vancouver,  with  already  a  hundred  thousand 
people,  the  commercial  capital,  and  New 
Westminster,  discarded  by  the  C.P.R.,  the 
headquarters  of  the  important  salmon  fisheries 
and  canning  establishments.  New  West- 
minster, however,  is  only  a  few  miles  from 
Vancouver,  and  some  day,  no  doubt,  the 
bigger  city  will  extend  to  it.  The  whole  sea- 
coast  civilization  of  the  province  is,  for  the 
moment,  pressed  down  into  this  southern 
corner.  Mountains  and  highlands,  densely 
clad  with  heavy  timber,  pine,  cedar  and 
hemlock — thicker  and  taller  than  the  woods 
of  Eastern  Canada — press  upon  the  shore. 
And  there  is  very  little  settlement  as  yet  north 
of  Vancouver  city,  upon  the  coast-lme, 
which  is  Norwegian  in  character,  and  indented 
by  fjords.  The  rise  of  Vancouver  is  really 
much  more  wonderful  than  that  of  Winnipeg  ; 
for  the  central  situation  of  the  latter,  between 
the  prairies  and  Eastern  Canada,  made  its 
future  inevitable,  the  whole  wealth  of  the 
former  being  compelled  to  flow  into  and 
through  it.  But  the  site  of  Vancouver 
was  a  desolate  forest   m   1880.    It   stands 


1 


218 


CANADA 


n 


*  r 

I 


"  'I 

1 


m 


with  Its  back,  as  it  were,  to  the  Dominion, 
facing  the  Pacific,  and  when  it  was  founded, 
the  trade  of  the  country  with  the  Orient  and 
Australasia,  by  way  of  the  Western  Ocean, 
on  any  serious  scale,  was  an  unproven  matter. 
Nor  is  there  any  smooth  country  with  the 
promise  of  a  thick  population  spreading  inland 
from  the  city  or  sea-coast,   but  a  broken, 
mountamous    region    densely    covered    with 
sombre  forest,  only  permittmg  of  settlement 
nere  and  there  in  valleys  and  strips.     In  1900 
Vancouver  City  had  80,000  inhabitants.    Ten 
years  later   it  had   100,000.    It  is  a  well- 
built,    handsome   town,   spreading    with   its 
suburbs  along  a  low  ridge  beside  a  deep  inlet 
of   the   ocean,   where   the  largest   steamers 
tradmg    with    China,    Australia,    and    New 
Zealand,  as  well  as  with  the  American  coast, 
go  m  and  out.    Above  the  city  and  harbour 
the  mountains  rise  to  the  height  of  from  two 
to  three  thousand   feet.    Lumbering   is  an 
active  mdustry  both  on  the  mainland  and 
on  Vancouver  Island,  where  there  is  also  coal, 
the  tunber,  particularly  the  Douglas  fSr,  pitch 
pme,  and  cedar,  being  about  the  best  in  the 
world.     These  trees  grow  in  vast  forests  to  the 
height  of  from  two  hundred  to  four  hundred 
feet.     Then-    trunks    are    of    proportionally 
enormous  girth,  and  what  is  more,  stand  so 
near  together  that  the  effect  is  sombre  and 
almost  overwhelming  to  puny  man,  making 


Jin^i^f^a^^i-.itiBi  mevas.vaBae^fm-mafrt-JUK- 


BRITISH  COLUMBIA 


219 


slow  way  between  them.  There  is  nothing 
in  the  least  like  these  forests  in  Eastern 
Canada.  There  are  great  sawmills,  too,  whence 
planks  and  roofing  shingles  are  despatched 
to  the  prairies,  where,  as  can  be  imagined,  the 
demand  for  building  materials  is  large  and 
constant.  The  salmon  fishing  and  canning 
industry  dominates  the  mouth  of  the  Fraser 
River,  New  Westminster  being  its  chief 
headquarters,  and  the  men  engaged  in  the 
fishing  department  are  largely  Japanese.  The 
number  of  salmon  that  run  up  the  Fraser  and 
other  rivers  in  the  autumn  to  spawn,  and 
thence  up  its  mauy  rapid  tributaries,  is 
incredible.  You  may  see  them  in  November 
literally  jostling  one  another  in  the  pools  of 
quite  small  streams,  and  the  carcases  of  the 
many  that  by  a  curious  provision  of  nature 
die  on  the  way  upstream  strew  the  banks, 
creating  an  intolerable  stench. 

In  Vancouver  City  and  Victoria,  you  feel 
at  once  you  are  face  to  face  with  Asia.  It  is 
a  strange  jump  from  the  intensely  Anglo- 
Saxon  atmosphere  of  the  prairies  to  find 
whole  streets  inhabited  by  Chinese  and 
Japanese,  both  in  Vancouver  City  and  Victoria. 
The  fisheries,  laundry  work,  and  domestic 
service  are  their  chief  sources  of  occupation, 
but  a  Chinaman  will  work  equally  well  on  the 
farm  or  in  the  lumber  camps.  He  has  an 
inherited  instinct  for  keeping  a  bargain  in  the 


'•I'l"  'jlitl^    ":^i.''r;-C'. 


220 


CANADA 


:li! 


tm  -  1 


If 


5^ 


spirit  as  well  as  in  the  letter,  and  works  as 
faithfully  in  the  absence  as  in  the  presence  of 
an  employer. 

These  people  only  come  for  a  certain  time  ; 
when  they  have  made  enough  money,  they 
return  and  live  on  it  for  the  rest  of  their  days 
A  heavy  tax  is  charged  on  their  admission, 
for   there    is    great    opposition    among    the 
working-class    whites,    who     rould    exclude 
them  entirely  if  they  could.     The  position 
of  labour  in  British   Columbia  generally  is 
at  cross  purposes.      This  is  not  a  half-way 
house  for  immigrants,  being  at  the  end  of  all 
thmgs,  nor,  like  the  other  provinces,  is  there 
any  considerable  number  of  immigrants  work- 
ir-?    their     way     by     wages     towards     the 
pc jtion  of  farmers.     The  rough,  mountainous 
surface  of  the  province  is  only  available  for 
settlement  in  valleys  and  plateaus  between  the 
ranges,  better  adapted  to  people  with  more 
or  less  capital,  and  mainly  occupied  by  them. 
So  the  working-class  element  outside  the  mines 
IS  small,  highly  paid,  and  very  indifferent  as 
to  the  service  it  renders.     Naturally  enough 
though,   this  state  of  things  greatly  retards 
the  development  of  the  country.    The  working 
man  objects  to  the  Chinaman  who,  though 
not  particularly  cheap,  carries  out  his  bargains 
of  labour  so  effectually  and    punctiliously. 
Save  for  occasional  small  consignments  from 
England,   there   is   no   domestic    labour    to 


<\  ">; 


itj^x^Mmmt^w^EBsmxss^mfJimmm^iJimtWPiui^^sr^ 


BRITISH  COLUMBIA 


221 


inous 
le  for 
n  the 
more 
hem. 


to 


be  had  except  the  Chinaman,  who,  in  this 
department,  is  very  competent,  and  will  do  all 
the  housework  and  cooking  of  a  well-appointed 
moderately-sized  town  house.      White  British 
Columbians  will  not  go  into  service,  and  at  the 
same  time  object  to  the  presence  of  the  China- 
man even  as  a  servant,  and  use  their  voting 
power  in  this  direction.     The  real  scarcity 
of  labour  all  through  the  agricultural  and 
fruit-growing  regions  of  the  province  tends  to 
limit  the  operations  of  farmers  to  what  they 
can   accomplish   with   their   own   individual 
pair  of  hands.     This  is  all  very  well  in  a  wheat 
country,  which  offers  even  thus  a  satisfying 
lift  in  the  world  to  working  men  with  very 
little  money  to  start  on.    But  the  orchards, 
the  irrigated  fruit  farms,  the  park-like  stock 
ranches  that  fill  the  intervals  between  the 
mountains  of  British  Columbia,  do  not  greatly 
lend  themselves  to  this  type  of  man.     They 
require  more  capital,   and  the  settler  with 
more  capital  cannot  do  justice  to  it,  however 
ready  he  may  be  to  work  like  a  labourer,  if 
he  cannot   make   sure   of  getting   sufficient 
assistance.     You  cannot  cultivate  and,  above 
all,    gather    and    market    apples,    peaches, 
grapes,   cherries,   and  all   the  small   annual 
fruits  that  do  so  well  in  British  Columbia 
by  machinery.     A  large  capitalist  can  attract, 
by  various  means,  a  regular  supply  out  of  the 
scant  labour  market,  but  the  average  man 


SSHSe? 


'■i'Z  %A:'fr 


223 


CANADA 


|J  5     4. 


1'! 


li 


cannot  do  this.  Again,  the  anomalous  situa- 
tion prevailing  to  a  large  extent  in  the  North- 
West,  reaches  its  climax  in  British  Columbia, 
except  where  the  Chinaman  is  available  in 
the  sea-coast  cities.  The  wife  of  a  British 
Columbian,  for  instance,  whether  well-off  or 
not,  has  generally  to  do  the  cooking  and 
housework — in  short,  the  whole  drudgery  of 
the  home.  This  is  an  anomaly  when  there 
is  no  financial  need  for  it,  and  is  a  great 
disadvantage. 

The  climate  of  the  elevated  region  between 
the  sea  coast  and  the  Rocky  Mountains  is 
much  colder  than  that  of  the  former,  and  less 
cold  than  that  of  the  prairie.  It  is  better 
than  either  for  the  worker.  Invigorating 
without  any  trying  extremes — a  bright, 
dry,  but  never  very  hot  summer,  with  a 
small  rainfall  and  a  steady,  hard,  but  not! 
excessively  cold  winter.  The  rainfall  varies! 
so  greatly,  however,  within  the  saii.^  area 
that  you  may  find  in  the  same  valley  twenty 
miles  of  ordinary  farms  corresponding  to  those 
of  Ontario,  and  growing  the  same  crops, 
followed  by  a  long  stretch  of  a  more  rainless 
district  under  irrigation,  cut  up  into  smaller 
plots,  and  devoted  to  fruit,  which  is  the  main 
staple  of  agricultural  export.  A  great  deal 
of  this  middle  country,  which  is  the  favourite 
and  most  eligible  portion  of  the  province 
for  settlers,  is  a  pleasant  combination  of  open 


-••5'-  U-rh   '  ' 


-y  .^      /-'■      .1*  Ul..   '   -       •  ■■      ^i" 


BRITISH  COLUMBIA  228 

country  and  forest,  and  being  very  hilly,  and 

Ik  1      /iu*"??"**?"^    '"^^""^   ^^*enery   in   the 
who  e  of  the  Dominion  and  not  unlike  parts  of 

an  Enghshraan,  who  had  seen  the  whole  of  the 
Dominion  M'ould  almost  certainly  pitch  upon 
as  the  most  attractive  to  settle  in,  other  thLs 
bemg  equal.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  gr^t 
numbers  of  people  not  only  from  the  old 
country,  but  from  Old  Canada,  who  possess 
small  or  moderate  fixed  incomes,  do  come  to 
this  middle  region  of  British  Columbia,  and 
occupy  themselves  in  fruit  farming  on  a  small 
scale     Everythmg  is  conducive  to  a  ha^y 

inH  \"*  '^V^'^  °^  ^^^°"'  indoors  and  out^ 
and  how  this  presses  on  a  family  depends 

III!  u'  .^^'^'^^ications  are  maintained 
either  by  steamers  up  and  down  these  valley 
lakes  or  by  small  branch  railroads,  but  the 

hfl^^r  ''  '°  J^'?u^"  "P  ^y  mountain  and 
nio  S  !  '  /"^  *^^  occupied  spaces  are  so 
detached  and  straggling,  that  any  attempt  at 
geographica  detail  here  would  be  futile  and 
confusmg.  And,  again,  when  one  speaks  of  the 
nrj"l?  u^'""}  "?"'  ^°^^  ^^^  s^ven  hundred 
min^f H  ^""""f'^i  "^^^'^  ^*  ™"«t  be  borne  in 
T^ft^  ?nly  the  extreme  southern  portion, 
and  then  in  this  fragmentary  fashion,  is  a^ 
yet  occupied.     The  Grand  Trunk  Pacific,  the 


:^5T^. 


224 


CANADA 


i 


r 


!  i* 


i 


new   railroad,    will    cross   the   Rockies,   two 
hundred  miles  north  of  the  Canadian  Pacific 
Railway,  and  then  shooting  north-westward, 
will  run  through  the  centre  of  the  province 
to    its   port    on   the   Pacific,    four   hundred 
miles  north  of  Vancouver  City.     All  this  is 
now   practically   a   rugged   wilderness   lying 
in  the  lap  of  the  future,  and  does  not  concern 
us  here.     Bears,  mountain  sheep,  moose,  and 
wapiti  range  the  British  Columbia  mountains. 
The   buffalo,    which   grazed   the  prairies   in 
literally  countless  thousands  before  the  settle- 
ment of  Manitoba  and  were  then  exterminated, 
did  not  exist  to  the  west  of  the  Rockies.     At 
the  far  north  of  British  Columbia  is  the  gold- 
bearing  territory  of  the  Yukon,  which  first 
made  such  a  stir  in  the  world  fifteen  years  ago, 
and  is  now  an  established  mining  country 
producing  annually  about  as  much  as  British 
Columbia.     For   gold,    silver,    copper,    iron, 
and  coal  account  for  a  considerable  amount 
of  the  industrial  life  of  the  province.     In  the 
deep  troughs  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and 
between  these  and  the  Selkirks,  mining  towns 
have  sprung  up,  surrounded,  whenever  the 
valleys    are    wide    enough,    by    agricultural 
enterprise  or   cattle   ranches,   while   in    the 
south-east  is  a  great  and  busy  coal  district. 

The  wonders  of  the  railroad  journey  th  rough 
the  Rockies  have  often  been  described. 
These  mountains  are  not  quite  the  height 


m^ 


'-.'f^Jr'' 


BRITISH  COLUMBIA  225 

of  the  Swiss  Alps,  though  in  far  north- 
west  British  Columbia  the  coast  range 
reaches  nineteen  thousand   feet,  the   height 

RlirM°"  P^^'^^  "'''**   '-  *^P  of  Mont 

a!r,L  ^'^  "^'^;'  ^^'^"^  ^^P?'  ''d  through- 
out the  summer  witl    saow.     Put  they  Ire 

41n?  P^l'^P^^^"^  ^"d  :^s^.4  than  even  the 
AJns.     Their  awe-striking  desolation  and  utter 
absence  of  human  life,  and  the  knowledge 
that  this  continues  for  hundreds  of  miles  to 
the  northward,  produces  a  different  feeling 
from  any  experienced  in  the  Alps.     For  theil 
the  mountains,  awesome  though  they  be.  are 
surrounded  and  interspersed  vvith  an  ancient 
and  luxuriant  civilization  of  towns,  villages 
and  pastures,   which  give  a  beauty  and  a 
eontrast  that  is  quite  lacking  in  the  Rockies^ 
w?fl  iif'^  f'^  ?"^7  magnificent  and  terrible, 

This  thm  thread  of  railroad,  however,  to  be 
followed  presently  by  another,  makes  a  verv 

rw  ^'^Tu'^'S'     ^*  ^^^«  th^  Dominion  and 
t  binds  the  Empire  literally  with  a  rod  of 
iron.     Slowly  though  it  crawls  up  and  down 
the   steep   gradients   and   round   the   sharn 
curves  through  the  long  hours  of  a  day  anS 
a    night     men    and    products    are    dragged 
backwards  and  forwards  upon  it  in  a  cease 
ess   stream,   and    telegraph    messages   flash 
from  ocean  to   ocean  along  its  track. 
No  .wo  countries  more  useful  to  one  another 


226 


CANADA 


m 


t; 


could   be  placed  alongside  than   these   two 
contrasting  regions  of  mountain  and  prairie. 
The  prah-ie  has  no  timber  (in  a  commercial 
sense)  and  no  standard  fruits.     Building  of 
all  kinds  is  continuous  and  extensive,  and 
must  be  so  for  generations,  while  fruit  is  also 
a  necessity  of  life.     Their  neighbour  produces 
both  these  things  in  inexhaustible  abundance. 
There  is  a  coal  region  in  the  prairies,  but 
British  Columbia  coal  is,   or  will  be,   much 
handier   to   large  portions   of   it.     Grain   is 
produced    in    many   of   the    valleys    of    the 
mountain  provinces,  but  for  a  steady  supply 
to   the   mming    districts    the    prairies    are 
depended  upon.     Lastly,  the  prairie  provinces, 
though   with    an    always    pleasant    summer 
climate,  have  a  winter  one  which,  if  endurable 
and  uninjurious  to  most  people,  and  enjoyable 
to  some,  proves  more  than  others  can  bear. 
A  great  many  people,  too,  who  can  bear  it 
get  wearied  of  it.     To  these  people  British 
Columbia,  with  its  wid'^  choice  of  both  climate 
and  scenery,  offers  a  complete  change.     The 
Eastern  Canadian  can  get  no  relief  from  a 
frozen  up  winter  short  of  the  more  southerly 
of  the  United  States  or  the  West  Indies.     The 
prairie  Canadian  can  remove  himself  across 
the  Rockies  and  enjoy,  if  he  choose,  either  a 
far  more  modified  Canadian  winter,  or  that  of 
Devonshire,  where  green  turf  mats  upon  the 
roadside,    and   English    ivy   climbs   up    the 


't>i^^' 


BRITISH  COLUMBIA  227 

chimneys,  and  soft  damp  winds  blow  from 
the  sea,  while  snow-capped  mountains  rise 
thousands  of  feet  mto  the  sky  behind. 

f.^i  ?/   ^^?P^^   ^^^   ^^*her   mingled 

together  or  collected  in  racial  bunches  in  the 
valleys  of  British  Columbia,  or  towards  the 
mouth  of  the  Fraser  River,  the  only  agricul- 
tural  wedge  of  country  on  the  sea  coast.     Their 
occupations  are    mixed    and   manifold,   but 
the    proportion    of    British-born    people    is 
greater  than  in  any  other  province,  and  what 
may  be  called  the  American  spirit  and  in- 
fluence   IS    less    marked,    more    particularly 
at  Victoria  on  the  island  of  Vancouver,  with 
Its  beautiful  neighbourhood  of  fruit  and  grass 
and  gram,  and  clear  rushing  streams. 


Ma 


CHAPTER    X 

THE   DOMINION   OF  TO-DAY 

When  in  1868  the  New  Dominion  Government 
sett.ed  down  in  their  fine  Parliament  buildings 
at   Ottawa   and   began   a   fresh   chapter   in 
Canadian  history,   things   fell   into   woikinT 
order  more  rapidly  than  might  have  been 
expected  under  such  a  totally  fresh  departrre. 
Still,  almost  every  man  there  may  be  said 
to  have  brought  with  him  political  experience, 
and  whether  he  approved  of  Federation  or  not, 
and  there  were  many  who  did  not,  particularly 
in  the  maritime  provinces,  he  felt  the  greater 
dignity  of  the  House  of  which  he  was  now  a 
member  and  the  wider  sphere  of  action  he  was 
called  to.     When  it  is  said  that  the  terms 
Senate  "  and  •'  House  of  Commons "  were 
substituted  at  Ottawa  for  the  "Legislative 
Council"  and  "Assembly"  in  general  use 
hitherto  m  the  provinces,  and  that  the  British 
model    of    procedure    was    almost    exactly 
followed,  and  further  that  each  province  was 
represented  by  the  same  number  of  senators 
but  contributed  to  the  Lower  House  according 

228 


THE  DOMINION  OF  TO-DAY     229 

to  its  population,  that  will  be  sufficient  for 
the  purpose  of  these  brief  pages.     Though 
Sir  John  Macdonald,  as  first  Premier,  under 
Lord  Monk  as  first  Governor-General,  started 
with  a  Cabinet  of  six  Conservatives  and  s'x 
Liberals,  and  called  his  Government  Liberal- 
Conservative,  this  was  a  mere  rally,  a  call  into 
being,  as  it  were,  of  the  two  political  parties 
and  they  soon  fell  into  line.     The  French  of 
the   lower   province   played   a   mixed   part, 
mainly   Conservative,    in   neutral   questions, 
but  flaring  up  in  race  or  religious  issues,  irre- 
spective of  political  parties,  and  with  a  ten- 
dency to  follow  into  either  camp  a  leader  of 
their  own  race  who  touched  their  imagina- 
tion. * 

The  Liberals  started  their  federal  life  as 
Free  Traders,  the  Tories  as  Protectionists. 

The  Americans  had  just  thrown  the  Liberals 
over,  as  related  in  a  former  chapter,  and 
further  cherished  a  very  natural  hope  that 
by  barring  their  own  doors  against  Canadian 
trade  they  would  drive  Canada  into  annexa- 
tion. A  year  after  Federation  the  famous 
old  Nova  Scotian  statesman  Howe  created 
an  awkward  moment  for  Canada.  In  a 
combination  of  personal  pique  and  honest 
conviction  he  fired  the  whole  province  with 
a  fervid  cry  for  secession,  under  the  plea  that 
their  interests  were  in  peril,  reviving  the  old 
grievance  that  their  Parliament  had  voted  for 


280 


CANADA 


i:^,- 


■;y 


Federation  without  an  appeal  to  the  people. 
Howe  went  to  England  and  laid  the  urgent 
appeal  for  secession  of  an  apparently  united 
province  at  the  steps  of  the  throne.  The 
British  Government,  however,  would  not 
give  vay.  On  his  return  Howe  was 
approached  by  Sir  John  Macdonald  and 
others  with  forcible  representations  of  the 
disaster  he  was  provoking.  With  further 
concessions  to  Nova  Scotia  and  with  skilful 
arguments  flattering  to  its  leader,  the  old 
man  was  won  over,  and  the  Nova  Scotian 
Assembly  was  gradually  convinced  of  the 
hopelessness  of  opposing  both  Ottawa  and 
Westminster.  Formerly  overlooked  for  cer- 
tain reasons  in  the  Federal  Gk)vernment,  he 
was  now  placed  in  the  Cabinet.  But  his 
day  was  really  over.  A  majority  of  his  old 
friends  and  supporters  in  Nova  Scotia,  of 
which  he  became  Lieutenant-Governor,  refused 
to  forgive  him  for  his  final  face-about, 
though  it  was  not  discreditable,  and  he  died 
in  1873.  Nova  Scotia  remained  strong  in 
Anti-Federationists  till  they  gradually  died 
out  about  the  end  of  the  century.  Thus 
ended  a  little  drama,  and  the  only  serious 
hitch  the  Confederation  as  such  ever  had. 
The  two  chief  questions  with  which  the 
Dominion  Cabinets  were  occupied  for  the  first 
twenty  years  were  the  Canadian  Pacific  rail- 
ror''  and  the  Tariff.    The  railroad  for  years 


!*^5W 


.'.»*<   '•i.»:-.    li:-;;. 


:'^-.'-,:-^ 


??-5!f? 


fl^^W 


THE  DOMINION  OF  TO-DAY     281 

virtually  overshadowed  everything.  Otherwise 
the  Conservatives,  who  were  its  abettors 
under  Sir  John  Macdonald  as  related,  were 
Protectionists.  The  Liberals,  who  were 
opposed  to  it,  or  at  least  to  any  forward 
action,  were  then  Free  Traders. 

So  the  railroaa  and  the  Tariff,  though  as 
matters  of  policy  quite  unconnected  with  one 
another,   were  the   two   main   questions   on 
which  Canadian  parties  were  in  conflict.     We 
have  seen  how  the  first  business  was  carried 
through.     Visitors  to  Canada   in  the  seven- 
ties   used    jestingly    and    even     slightingly 
to    report    that    Liberal    and    Conservative 
stood  merely  for  a  railroad  to  be  or  not  to  be. 
They  were  almost  right,  only  they  did  not 
realize    what    that    railroad    meant,    as,    I 
trust,   bj*-  this  time,   the  reader  does.     But 
there  was  more  than  this :    the  party  who 
carried  it  through  pledged  the  credit  of  the 
country  and  of  its  greatest  bank,  incidentally 
staking,  it  is  said,  their  own  financial  stability 
at   a   serious   crisis.     The   risks   were  great, 
and  their  opponents  were  not  without  cause 
for  alarm.     But  the  daring  policy  won  and 
was  crowned  with  a  success  that  has  made 
historic   heroes    of    leaders   who    were    once 
called  madmen   by  thousands  of  men  who 
were  no  fools.      So  much  for  the  railroad 
which    was   to    lift    Canada    into    another 
sphere    of    existence.      But    the    Tariff,    of 


282 


CANADA 


^ii  y 


'il  ■■ 


•1 


Hi 


t         ! 


lit 


if  i:l 


course,   is   an   abiding   question,   as    in    all 
countries. 

Now  at  the  beginning  of  Federation,  when 
Canada,  which  had  enjoyed  free  intercourse  in 
all  raw  material  with  the  United  States, 
found  herself  shut  out  by  high  duties,  there 
was  naturally  depression.  It  was  not  felt 
so  acutely  at  first,  since  -for  some  years  after 
1866  America  was  staggering  under  the  results 
of  a  gigantic  civil  war.  By  the  seventies, 
however,  she  had  pulled  herself  together 
and  was  pouring  manufactured  goods  over 
the  low  barrier  of  the  Canadian  frontier,  and 
threatening  to  crush  out  the  weak  infant 
industries  of  that  country.  But  agriculture 
was  still  flourishing,  for  grain  was  high,  and 
the  farmers  were  naturally  Free  Traders.  Free 
Trade  in  Canada,  however,  signifies  a  tariff 
for  revenue  only,  as  opposed  to  a  tariff  for 
fostering  native  industries  by  keeping  foreign 
goods  at  such  a  price  that  home-made  articles 
can  compete  with  them.  To  the  British  Free 
Trader  a  mere  difference  between  fifteen  and 
thirty  per  cent,  duty,  which  these  two  policies 
roughly  represent,  may  not  seem  to  constitute 
two  bitterly  opposed  schools  of  thought. 
But  direct  taxation  in  a  young  and  growing 
country  was  outside  contemplation,  and  still 
is  so  in  Canada.  Free  Trade  there  means 
tariff  for  revenue,  not  Free  Trade  in  the 
fullest  sense. 


iwaijii'iiiiij 


all 


THE  DOMINION  OF  TODAY     238 

.Depression  increased  in  Canada.     Annexa- 
tion was  freely  talked  of  in  many  quarters, 
and    even    farmers    who    were    still    getting 
tolerable  prices  for  grain   were   feeling   the 
failure  of  local  markets  in  other  ways.     The 
Americans  were  not  ill-pleased  at  the  success 
of    the    lesson    they    considered    they    were 
reading  to  a  contumacious  colony  that  per- 
sisted  in   its   absurd   old-world   connection. 
Canada  was  weak  and  poor — three  million 
and    odd    souls    against    forty    million — and 
things  were  in  a  bad  way.     Then,  in  1879, 
Sir    John    Macdonald    carried    through    his 
famous  measures  known  as   "  The  National 
Policy,"  or,  in  brief,  a  duty  averaging  about 
thirty  per  cent,  on  all  imported  goods.     This 
is  of  vital   importance,   as  it  has  remained 
ever  since,  till  the  past  year  or  so,  the  basis  of 
Canadian   policy.     When   in   1896  a  Liberal 
Government,  after  seventeen  years  of  outing, 
came    into    power,    the    Free    Traders    had 
vanished  from  the  land.     Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier, 
whether  converted  ot  not,  had  no  choice  but 
to    sustain    Macdonald's    policy.     Whatever 
the  private  opinion  of  individuals,  the  Liberal 
Party  for  the  next  three  elections  maintained 
their  position  by  continuing  the  policy  of  their 
opponents.     Nor  is  there  any  doubt  but  that 
in   this,    as   in   their   other   measures,    they 
expressed  the  general  sense  of  the  Dominion. 
They  came  into  the  long  tenure  of  power 


flF!? 


•  rt  ir.i^'a," 


—   V.  .- «  _ 


■r>s^ 


284 


CANADA 


I. 


Ji     ! 


they  were  to  enjoy  till  1911  as  a  change 
of  men  rather  than  of  measures.  Macdonald 
and  the  other  Conservative  leaders  had 
passed  away,  and  the  traditional  British 
disposition  to  "  give  the  others  a  chance," 
came  into  effect.  But  the  new  Government 
found  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  continue 
their  opponents'  policy.  Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier 
did  go  to  Washington  to  see  if  he  could 
negotiate  something  in  the  way  of  Reciprocity, 
but  the  Americans  would  have  nothing  to 
say  to  him.  In  1896,  though  Canada  had 
laid  the  foundations  and  something  more  of 
her  manufacturing  prosperity,  her  great  day 
had  not  yet  come.  TTie  Canada  of  1896 
was  almost  insignificant  in  the  world's  eye, 
including.  *^hat  of  the  United  States,  compared 
to  the  Cf  \;.da  of  1911.  Politics  became  ncv 
little  more  than  a  matter  of  "  ins  and  outs," 
though  the  "  ins  "  remained  in.  Visitors  to 
Canada  asked  in  vain  the  difference  between 
a  Liberal  and  a  Conservative.  Nobody  could 
tell  them,  for  there  literally  was  none,  and 
there  was  not  now  even  a  railroad  question. 
All  over  Canada,  to  be  sure,  you  might  find 
farmers  objecting  to  the  high  tariff,  which 
appeared  to  them  to  be  making  manufacturers 
wealthy  at  their  expense.  But  then  no 
practical  effect  could  be  given  to  such  opinions 
in  a  country  which  all  this  time  was  astonish- 
ing the  world  and  itself  by  its  leaps  and 


:'m^fe 


THE  DOMINION  OF  TO-DAY     285 

bounds  forward  in  the  path  of  wealth,  pro- 
gress, and  importance. 

The  farmers  of  the  old  provinces,  too,  were 
recovering  from  their  long  depression  by  the 
growth  of  local  markets  and  increased  facilities 
of  transportation  both  internal  and  across  the 
seas.     So  there  was  the  curious  spectacle  of  a 
party   remaining   continuously   in   power   in 
great  measure  because  there  was  no  possible 
cry  with  which  to  turn  them  out.     On  the 
face  of  it,  they  had  stolen  their  opponents' 
policy,  and,  of  course,  they  had  to  sit  down 
under  that  accusation.     A  legitimate  enough 
party  cry,  but  it  breaks  no  bones,  and  was 
hardly  fau-,  as  the  Liberals  had  no  choice,  for 
during    an    unprecedented    prosperity    they 
could  hardly  reverse  a  policy  which  the  over- 
whelming   sense   of    the    country    believed 
essential  to  its  continuance.     Moreover,  they 
acquitted  themselves  to  the  general  satisfaction 
not  only  of  their  own  country,  but  to  that  of 
»--^h  parties  in  the  Motherland.     Sir  Wilfrid 
^      rier,  simply  as  a  French  Canadian,  carried 
the  bulk  of  his  countrymen  with  him.     In  the 
Boer  war,   however,  when  the  question   of 
sending  troops  to  South  Africa  arose,  backed 
by  his  whole  French  following  Lauricr  would 
have  opposed  it,  but  the  British,  regardless  of 
party,  made  it  evident  that  in  such  case  he 
would  be  hurled  from  power  on  the  spot,  and 
he  wisely  gave  in.     Sincerely  devoted  to  the 


286 


CANADA 


British  connection,  and  as  nearly  an  Imperial- 
ist as  could  be  expected  of  a  French  Canadian, 
Sir  Wilfrid,  if  not  a  great  leader  like  Mac- 
donald,  proved  himself  a  wise,  shrewd,  and 
capable  Prime  Minister.  One  of  the  earliest 
acts  of  his  Governmv  at  was  to  grant  preference, 
that  is,  a  reduction  of  about  one-third  of  the 
duty  on  British  goods,  which  greatly  increased 
the  volume  of  British  trade  with  Canada. 
Mentally,  he  is  hardly  a  typical  French- 
Canadian.  He  has  a  sincere  admiration  for 
Great  Britain,  and  is  intimate  with  its 
literature  traditions,  though  loyal  enough  to 
his  own  race,  who,  indeed,  often  complain  that 
he  is  "too  English,"  while  the  English  com- 
plain that  he  is  "too  French"— a  fairly 
obvious  compliment  to  his  impartiality. 

Within  recent  years,  however,  Sir  Wilfrid 
Laurier  and  the  Liberal  party  struck  out 
upon  a  line  of  policy  that  the  country  at 
the  Autumn  elections  of  1911  rejected  so 
decisively  as  to  inflict  nothing  less  than  a 
catastrophe  on  the  party,  and  bring  about 
the  return  of  the  Conservatives  to  power  in 
overwhelming  majority.  However  political 
opinions  may  differ,  the  fact  remains  that 
Laurier  had  utterly  failed  to  gauge  the 
temper  of  the  Canadian  people.  The  recent 
Reprocity  treaty,  introduced  by  the  Liberal 
party  and  favoured  by  President  Taft  and 
a    majority    of   the   American   people,    may 


THE  DOMINION  OF  TO-DAY     287 

be  roughly  described  as  a  free  interchange 
of  raw  products.      The  resources  of  Canada 
in  this  respect  are  immense,  while  the  popula- 
tion   and    its    exploiting    powers    are    still 
comparatively  small,  though  with  an  abso- 
lute certainty  of  constant  and  rapid  increase. 
The  resources  in  raw  material  of  the  United 
States   are   also    still    very   great,    but    the 
population  and  capital  engaged  in  exploiting 
them  are    infinitely  greater  than    those    at 
the    disposal    of    Canada    and    would    turn 
with  avidity  to  the  latter  as  a  field  of  enter- 
prise.    One  objection  of  the  Canadians  to  the 
proposed  treaty  was  that  they  preferred  to 
conserve  their  own  natural  resources  for  their 
own  people  to-day  and  for  future  generations, 
though  the  prospect  of  an  immediate  inflation 
of  business  activity  was  naturally  tempting. 
The  manufacturers  were  opposed  to  the  Treaty 
for  obvious  reasons,  the  farmers  as  a  whole 
were  expected  to  benefit  by  it.     But  these 
calculations    and    assumptions    matter    little 
now.     For  to  the  surprise  of  both  the  Ameri- 
cans, the  British  at  home,  and  in  a  measure 
of    the    Canadians   themselves,    the   country 
pronounced  its  overwhelming  verdict,  almost 
uninfluenced  by  the  usual  considerations  of 
trade    interests.     Rightly    or    wrongly    the 
Canadians     interpreted     their     decision     as 
between   a   rapprochement  with   the   United 
States,  leading  they  knew  not  whither,  and  a 


r 


238 


CANADA 


continuation  of  those  close  bonds  that  hither- 
to and  never  more  closely  than  at  this  moment 
have  united  them  to  the  Mother  country.  The 
elections  of  1911  for  this  reason  will  live  in 
history  as  the  most  remarkable  in  the  annals 
of  Canada. 

To  revert  to  other  matters,  one  of  the  first 
things  that  happened  after  Federation  was 
the  withdrawal  of  practically  all  those  British 
garrisons  which  had  been  such  a  feature  in 
Canadian  life  since  the  earliest  days.  The 
Dominion  (Jovernment  now  took  over  the 
defence  of  the  country  with  a  volunteer  organ- 
ization very  similar  to  the  British,  and  a  small 
permanent  force  to  garrison  Quebec  and  one 
or  two  other  places.  A  British  officer  of  high 
rank  superintends  military  affairs,  while  an 
excellent  Military  College  at  Kingston  feeds 
this  volunteer  service  with  officers,  the  whole 
thing  being  controlled  by  the  Canadian 
Government.  Quite  recently  Canada  has 
undertaken  to  a  certain  extent  her  naval 
defence,  built  some  ships  of  war,  and  taken 
over  the  naval  establishments  and  harbours 
of  Halifax  and  Esquimault  on  Vancouver 
island. 

In  early  days  the  Church  of  England 
outside  the  French  districts,  without  being 
actually  established,  had  a  strong  preference 
in  the  way  of  privilege,  and  even  land  grants. 
In  every  British  colony  it  was  the  Church  of 


(    ' 


THE  DOMINION  OF  TO-DAY    289 

the  governing  classes  and  the  Crown  repre- 
sentatives, and  at  that  time  even  marriages  by 
Nonconformist  ministers  were  not  considered 
valid.  Large  tracts  of  wild  lands  were  set 
apart  for  the  Church  in  Ontario,  and  a  certain 
number  of  rectories  were  built  by  the  Crown. 
As  settlement  increased,  largely  fed  from 
Presbyterian  and  Nonconformist  sources,  and 
the  popular  voice  began  to  make  itself  heard, 
the  Church  lands,  which  remained  uncleared 
amid  the  growing  settlements,  became  a 
political  question,  which  was  bitterly  contested 
for  nearly  half  a  century,  till  they  were 
ultimately  applied  to  education  and  similar 
purposes,  though  the  Church  retained  its 
official  prestige  to  some  extent  and  its  social 
prestige,  closely  run  by  the  Presbyterians, 
to  its  full  extent.  Religion,  save  in  the  case 
of  the  French  Catholics,  fell  into  the  voluntary 
system  far  more  suitable  to  a  new  countrj-. 

Education  may  be  briefly  dismissed  as 
conducted  upon  more  or  less  the  same  lines  as 
in  the  Mother  Country,  free  elementary  schools, 
being  supplemented  by  intermediate  schools 
for  those  who  wish  it.  In  the  French  province 
the  Church  handles  the  funds  allocated  for 
this  purpose  and  controls  French  education. 
In  the  British  districts  of  Quebec,  how- 
ever, the  school  rates  are  handed  to  a 
Protestant  Council,  who  administer  them  as 
in  Ontario.     Flourishing  Universities  in  all  the 


240 


CANADA 


.  ■  i\ 


• 


provinces  provide  for  higher  education.  The 
Canadians  are  not  great  readers  of  much 
beyond  light  literature,  of  which  the  bulk 
comes  from  American  sources.  Their  news- 
papers stand  midway  between  the  frankly 
sensational  vulgarism  of  many  American 
publications  and  the  higher  standard  and 
tone  of  British  journalism.  Unfortunately, 
though  some  improvement  has  recently 
taken  place,  all  British  news  reached  the 
Canadian  press  through  American  press 
agencies,  an  1  the  Canadian  drew  his  notions 
of  Britis^i  statesmen  and  political  doings  from 
pictures  served  up  for  the  American  public, 
and  very  often  at  the  hands  of  Irish- American 
journalists.  This  was  not  calculated  to  make 
its  readers  appreciate  that  fusion  of  historic 
tradition  with  modern  demand,  of  stately 
ceremonial  with  democratic  freedom  that 
has  been  the  strength  of  England,  as  every 
educated  American  or  Canadian  who  has 
seen  it  face  to  face  recognises.  Nor  did  it 
present  British  statesmen  with  their  world- 
wide responsibilities  and  outlook  in  their 
true  light.  It  was  generally  written  to 
flatter  a  populace  who  were  only  familiar 
with  "  politicians,"  and  knew  nothing  of 
world-statesmanship  and  the  kind  of  men 
it  bred. 

In  spite  of  Federation  and  the  great  ocean- 
to-ocean  railway  and  Sir  John  Macdonald's 


THE  DOMINION  OF  TO-DAY    241 

"  National "  Policy,  the  Dominion  did  not  pro- 
gress as  it  should  for  fifteen  or  twenty  years. 
The  North-West,  as  related  in  another  chapter, 
took  a  long  time  in  thoroughly  proving  itself, 
while  the  immigration  of  intending  settlers  to 
the  old  provinces  had  virtually  stopped  by 
the  seventies.     There  was  little  good  land 
left   to   be   cleared.     Supply    in   trade   and 
manufactures  overtook  demand.     Everything 
was  low  in  price  ;  farmers  did  badly,  and  land 
went    down    in    value.     The    population    of 
Ontario,  the  most  powerful  and  prosperous 
of  the  old  provinces,  increased  very  little,  and 
the  young  men  of  Canada  went  by  thous- 
ands to  the  United  States,  the  progres    of 
which,  in  the  eighties  and  first  half  of  the 
nineties,  compared  to  that  of  Canada,  was  a 
continual     cause     of     invidious     comment. 
Nobody  quite  knew  why  it  was,  but  in  Great 
Britain    beyond    question    the    feeling    was 
general  that  Canada  somehow  lacked  enter- 
prise.    There  was  little  sign  coming  from  that 
country  of  the  wealth  realised  by  Australians, 
for  instance.     There  was  little  sign  abroad 
of  any  wealth  coming  from  Canada.     What 
there  really  was,  modest  comfort,  that  is  to 
say,  very  widely  diffused  and  steadily  growing, 
was  locked  up  in  statistics  which  made  no 
outside  appeal.     It  was  regarded,  in  short,  as  a 
poor  country.     Canadians  themselves  always 
thus  spoke  of  it,  partly  influenced  by  the 


r 


242 


CANADA 


'k<i 


depressing  contrast  between  themselves  and 
the  United  States.  They  claimed,  however, 
that  they  were  surer  and  sounder,  and  so 
they  were.  The  banking  system,  for  one 
thing,  was  infinitely  better,  and  the  ordinary 
law  courts  on  a  higher  plan. 

But  there  were  very  few  rich  men.     The 
income  of  the  well-to-do  class  in  the  cities  was 
modest,  and  expenditure,  speaking  generally, 
restricted,  while  the  farmers  worked  as  hard 
for  a  bare  living  as  they  had  formerly  done 
for  a  substantial  annual  balance.     The  popula- 
tion, however,  was  very  sound.      There  was 
comparatively  little  of  the  Continental  alien 
element  that  poured  into  the  United  States, 
and  little  of  the  scum  in  the  Canadian  cities 
which  defaced  those  to  the  southward.  British 
capital  which  had  flowed  into  Australia,  the 
Argentine,  and  the  United  States,  avoided 
Canada,  as  offering  no  scope,  and  the  North- 
West,  so  far  the  great  speculative  feature  of 
Canadian  opportunity,  though  it  had  given 
homes  to  thousands  of  poor  men,  had  certainly 
not     encouraged     the     capitalist.      French- 
Canada  all  this  time  increased  in  population 
by  her  own  fecundity.     Emigration  naturally 
avoided  the  province,  and  the  province  did 
not  want  it.     The  French  were  quite  content, 
for  theu"  temperament  is  different.     They  did 
not  care  as  a  people  for  material  expansion. 
An    Ontario    man,    if   the   census   shows 


a 


THE  DOMINION  OF  TODAY     248 

disappointing  increase,  feels  it  personally. 
"  Development "  is  the  fetish  of  the  Canadian 
British.  The  average  French-Canadian  excites 
himself  no  more  about  the  industrial  growth  of 
his  province  than  does  a  man  in  Somersetshire 
or  Normandy.  The  Anglo-Canadian,  who 
goes  to  the  other  extreme,  cannot  understand 
this,  and  it  is  one  of  the  many  things  that 
make  such  a  gap  between  the  two  races. 

But  the  North- West  came  nobly  to  the 
support  of  Canada,  and  in  a  dozen  years  lifted 
her  from  this  very  moderate  position  to  be 
the  mobh  materially  envied  country  in  the 
world.  In  the  nineties  the  Canadian  Govern- 
ment adopted  an  active  immigration  policy, 
mainly,  of  course,  in  Great  Britain,  but  also 
on  the  Continent  of  Europe,  which  succeeded 
admirably.  It  was  helped  by  a  succession  of 
good  crop  years  in  the  North- West,  and  by 
the  wonderful  and  unexpected  rush  of  Ameri- 
can farmers  into  the  country,  that  dispelled 
any  lingering  doubts.  If  it  was  good  enough 
to  draw  American  farmers  with  money  into 
the  surprising  situation  of  British  subjects, 
it  was  assuredly  a  good  enough  country  for 
British  enterprise  and  British  money.  And 
when  the  North- West  found  itself,  as  we  have 
elsewhere  described,  the  manufacturers  of 
Ontario,  who  had  been  steadily  asserting 
themselves  in  a  limited  market,  and  even 
shipping    certain    articles    to    Europe,    now 


244 


CANADA 


:  i 


Hi 

ii   I 


^  , 


leaped    to    the    situation    and    blessed    the 
"  National  Policy  "  and  Sir  John  Macdonald. 
The  whole  North-West,  filling  up  by  emigra- 
tion and  natural  increase  at  a  rapid  pace,  is 
now  their  market.     Shippmg  and  banking, 
every  department  of  industrial  life  in  Ontario 
together    with    Montreal— just    outside    its 
bounds,  but  the  commercial  capital  of  Canada 
— ^has    been   lifted    into   another   sphere   of 
prosperity.     There  are  now,  too,   plenty  of 
millionaires  and  great  numbers  of  wealthy 
people.     Canadian  sjmdicates  are  not  even 
content  with  operating  in  theu-  own  vast  half- 
developed    country,    but    are    to    be    found 
exploring  the  resources  of  South  America.  The 
illimitable  wilderness  north  of    Quebec  and 
Ontario  is  no  longer  a  mere  field  for  hunters' 
and  voyageurs'  tales,  but  mineral  deposits  are 
located,  familiar  by  name,  and  in  many  places 
worked    by    powerful    companies   and    with 
great  success.     Railroads  are  built,  and  others 
are  projected  through  rugged  woody  wastes 
that  twenty  years  ago  would  have  sounded 
like  a  fairy  tale.     A  portion  of  this  great  tide 
of  emigration  flowing  from  Europe  to  the  west 
has  stuck  in  Ontario,  mostly  men  with  only 
their  labour  to  sell,  and  owing  in  part  to  the 
long  winters,  when  outdoor  work  is  at  a  stand- 
still, has  sometimes  found  itself  in  temporary 
want.     American  capital,  too,  has  not  confined 
itself  to  western  agriculture,  but  has  flowed  in 


THE  DOMINION  OF  TO-DAY     245 

to  share  and  stimulate  the  manufacturing  and 
mining  prospects  of  Ontario  and  some  parts 
of  Quebec.  Summer  residents  from  the  United 
States,  attracted  by  the  rather  cooler  summer 
and  rather  cheaper  living  of  Canada,  have 
brought  new  life  and  adornment  to  the  once 
stagnant  little  lake-shore  towns,  and  created 
others  on  the  wider  waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
below  Quebec.  The  French  habitant,  un- 
changed, simple,  and  backward  as  ever,  but 
in  a  small  way  fond  of  money,  drives  his 
products  to  summer  watering-places  and 
chaffers  in  his  17th  century  French  or  in 
English  patois  with  fashionable  folks  from 
Philadelphia  and  New  York,  Montreal  and 
Toronto.  A  fresh  stimulus  has  been  added  to 
lumbering,  which  formerly  only  handled  timber 
that  could  be  sawn  up,  a  few,  that  is  to  say, 
trees  to  the  acre,  in  certain  districts.  Now 
the  manufacture  of  paper  from  wood  pulp 
has  made  almost  any  kind  of  timber  valuable, 
and  huge  areas  of  hitherto  worthless  back 
country  are  yielding  their  tribute  to  the 
national  wealth. 

It  is  only  people  who  knew  Canada  well, 
and  knew  how  it  stood  in  its  own  estimation 
and  in  that  of  the  world,  prior  to  about  1898, 
can  realize  the  transformation  that  has  come 
over  it.  There  was  no  particular  reason  why 
all  this  should  not  h^vc  come  some  years 
earlier,  and  that  is  the  odd  part  of  what  the 


ana 


246 


CANADA 


l:    i 


future  historian  will   have  to  tell  of  as  s 
wonderful   epoch.     If   it   has   surprised   th< 
world  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  it  has  surprised 
the  Canadians  themselves  almost  more.    Foi 
they  know  that  the  conditions  which  suddenly 
set  the  ball  rolling  had  been  there,  but  lying 
fallow,  as  it  were,  and  though  steadily  insisted 
upon,  rejected  by  the  world  for  years.     But 
it  must  uot  be  supposed  that  in  Canada  every 
one  is  rich  and  that  every  one  is  making 
money.     The  farmers  of  the  maritime  pro- 
vinces and  of  Ontario,  which  last  are  by  far 
the  most  progressive,  do  neither  better  nor 
worse,    as    a    whole,    than    the   farmers   of 
Great  Britain.    While  the  latter  comprise  many 
classes    of    men,  from   the    capitalists    who 
occupy    the    large    farms    which    are    the 
rule    in   numbers   of   Scottish   and   English 
counties,  and  middling  men  of  two  or  three 
hundred  acres  who  employ  labour,   to  the 
small  man  of  fifty  acres  who  does  his  own 
work,   the  Ontario  farmers  are  by  compari- 
son all  of  one  class,  nearly  all  farming  their 
own  farms  of  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  acres.     Since  grain  went  permanently 
down  they  have  had  to  adapt  themselves  to 
dairying,  poultry,  pigs  or  pedigree  stock,  or 
some  other  speciality,  and  the  value  of  their 
land  has  now  come  up  again  to  what  it  was  in 
the  seventies,  just  as  the  value  of  English  farms 
in  many  counties  is  slowly  coming  back  to 


•».  £r.\i- 


^•."»fe\,'.r'\' 


THE  DOMINION  OF  TO-DAY     247 

what  it  then  was.  They  are  practically 
all  of  the  same  class,  intelligent  working 
farmers,  with  an  ordinary  common  school 
education,  but  born  and  trained  to 
hard  manual  labour.  There  is  no  "  gentle- 
man farming "  in  old  Canada.  The  sons 
of  the  professional  and  higher  mercantile 
classes  never  dream  of  touching  farming 
in  the  old  provinces,  and  very  little  in  the 
west.  Even  rich  men  rarely  play  at  it. 
There  are  few  attractions,  as  in  Britain  and 
some  other  countries,  in  rural  life.  Labour 
is  very  scarce  and  very  dear.  There  is  no 
sport,  for  that  is  all  in  the  backwoods,  and 
no  society,  for  the  agricultural  districts  are 
entirely  composed  of  small  farmers,  who  toil 
unremittingly  from  daylight  to  dark,  and 
their  women  folk  work  equally  hard  in  and 
about  the  house.  The  fruit  districts  of  Western 
Ontario  afford  perhaps  a  partial  contrast 
socially  and  industrially  to  this  gene:  '  •*' 
Agriculture  is  still  the  leading  industry,  even 
of  old  Canada,  and  this  is  the  almost  uni^ersal 
form  it  takes  in  all  the  old  provinces,  only 
more  intelligent  and  progressive  in  some  ^jarts 
than  in  others. 

The  homesteads  are  very  well  built,  quite 
often  of  stone  or  brick,  and  the  farm  buildings 
admirable.  They  look  like  the  homesteads 
of  larger  farms,  and  a  stranger  driving  through 
a  good  district  of  Ontario  with  a  continuous 


248 


CANADA 


procession  of  them  to  the  right  and  left  of  him, 
would  be  surprised  to  learn  that  the  inmates 
—the  owner  and  his  son,  perhaps-<lid  the 
whole  manual  work  of  the  farm,  working  about 
twice  as  hard  as  an  English  farm  labourer. 
The  indoor  life  is  frugal  and  even  monotonous 
to  a  degree     Rigid  economy  in  expenditure 
has  been  the  rule  of  life  to  generations  of 
Canadian  farmers,  till  it  has  become  almost 
a  second  nature,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that 
the  admitted  dreariness  of  the  life  has  helped 
to  send  thousands  of  Canadian  farmers'  sons 
into  other  and  more  ambitious  spheres,  which 
a  cheap  college  education  facilitates.     This 
ownership  of  land  in  sufficient  parcels  by  the 
cultivator   greatly   simplifies    the   life   of   a 
nation.     As  regards  the  farmer  himself,  there 
IS  as  much  to  be  said  on  one  side  as  the  other  • 
whether  that  is  to  say,  he  is  better  or  worse  off 
with  a  large  part  o*  his  capital  tied  up  in 
ownership  with  its  obligations  of  bu    'ings 
and  repau-s  and  such  like,  and  great,     diffi- 
culties of  escape  in  case  of  need  or  incl  lation, 
or  whether,  with  ah  his  capital  free  to  put  into 
his  operations  under  the  English  land  system, 
a  lease,  that  is  to  say,  or  its  equivalent.   Out- 
siders,   in    thinking    of   these    matters,    are 
influenced  by  the  liuasi-sentimental  view  that 
has  really  very  little  significance  with  the 
practical    ^ss  actually  concerned,  either  in 
Canada  or  Great  Britain.    They  have  in  their 


THE  DOMINION  OF  TO-DAY     249 


in 


minds,  too,  the  ownership  of  a  cottage  and 
small  holding,  which  is  an  utterly  different 
matter.  The  Canadian  farmer  will  sell  his 
farm  for  profit  or  convenience,  though  he 
often  cannot  do  so,  as  readily  as  he  would  sell 
a  shop.  He  is  without  any  sentiment  regard- 
ing it.  A  British  tenant  of  the  same  or  larger 
calibre  would  far  more  often  than  not  forego 
an  opportunity  to  buy  his  farm  even  at  an 
advantageous  price,  and  consider  that  he  was 
better  situated  as  tenant.  The  farmer-pro- 
prietors throughout  the  old  Canadian  provinces 
certainly  do  not  make  more  on  an  average 
than  British  tenants  representing  the  same 
amount  of  invested  capital,  say,  £1,500  to 
£4,000,  and  are  often  mortgaged.  Market 
prices  are  lower,  labour  is  far  more  costly. 
The  British  tenant  c  f  an  average  200-acre  farm 
leads  a  much  easier  and  generally  a  more  cheer- 
ful and  varied  life,  anu  .  I  the  end  of  it  is 
neither  better  nor  worse  off,  on  an  average, 
than  the  yeoman  of  Eastern  Canada.  The 
prospect  in  a  new  country  like  the  western 
prr.iries,  where  the  emigrant  gets  land  for  little 
or  nothing,  and  it  grows  in  value  with  time 
and  his  own  improvements,  is,  of  course,  quite 
different.  But  even  that  is  a  pretty  hard  life. 
The  provincial  Governments,  particularly 
that  of  Ontario,  are  very  active  in  pi  emoting 
the  welfare  of  agriculture  and  the  establishment 
of  agricultural  colleges.     The  old  seigneuriul 


i 


250 


CANADA 


tenure  \v  ,s  lone  away  with  by  purchase 
in  Quebec  f  ,cy  years  ago,  and  the  French 
habitants  rr  now  all  freeholders.  In  some 
districts  iieju  he  great  centres  these  people 
have  »,'  i  hed  ihemselves  to  some  extent  to 
improv  i  f;  nmng,  but  as  a  class  they  still 
remain  ike  '  fc  of  17th  century  France  in  a 
corner  o I  "^[ortti  Amenca 

Great  !*--   havo   1,  -^     the   changes   in  the 
Domini       ,xu      '1        pening  of  this  century, 
the  future  hold-  iui      -  .ter  ones  in  store.     The 
material  '^'ie  o   it  :..jy  be  surmised  with  toler- 
able cfertainty,  but  the  political  future  has 
possibilit  ies  that  no  man  can  foresee.    The  slow, 
insidious  magnetism  of  the  mighty  Republic  on 
the  one  side,  the  ties  of  Empire,  deeply  felt  at 
present  by  a  majority  of  British  Canadians 
for  sentimental  reasons,  and  by  the  French 
for    practical    reasons,    on    the    other,    are 
opposing  factors  in  the  situation  that  time 
and  material  progress  may  increase  or  modify. 
Above  all,  national  feeling — ^not  to  be  con- 
founded   with    political     independence — has 
gathered  great  force  in  the  present  generation 
of  Canadians.     Canada,  in  short,  is  strangely 
placed  between  a  mighty  kindred  nation  who 
would  peacefully  assimilate  her  if  she  could, 
and  an  equally  mighty  but  remoter  Mother- 
land, who  is  no  longer  likely  to  be  indifferent 
to  the  attachment  of  the  greatest  star  in  the 
Imperial  constellation. 

November,  1911. 


*'  * 


■9j^-j£m6mt^- 


^XS'i 


}i¥^7wmFm^- 


^ 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

KxmsrowD,  W.—Bitkry  of  Canada.    10  vols.     Up  to  the 
preaent   the    standard    history   <if    Canada  on  an   ex- 
haustive scale. 
RoBEBTs,  C.  D.  G. — History  of  Canada,  in  one  thick  volume, 
by  a  well-known  Canadian  author.     It  is  of  recognised 
value  and  written  in  an  attractive  style. 
BouBsnoT,  Sir  J.  G. — History  of  Canada,  in  one  moderate- 
sized   volume.     Is   an   authoritative   work,   the   author 
of  which  was  for  some  time  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons at  Ottawa. 
Pabkman,    Francis.— For   all    concerning    French    Canada 
prior  to  the  British  conquest,  the  works  of  this  eminent 
American    historian    stand    alone    among    publications 
in  the  English  language.     They  arc  not  only  authoritative 
but  are  well-known  for  their  attractive  qualities,  descrip- 
tive powers,  and  charm  of  style.     Montcalm  and  Wolfe, 
The  Old  Riyime  in  Canada,  The  Jesuits  in  North  America, 
Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World,  and  T?te  Discovery 
of  the  Oreat  West,  may  be  quoted  as  the  most  important. 
Seblby,   Sih    J.— -The    Expansion    of    England.     A   short 
volume  setting  forth  in  clear  and  interesting  fashion  the 
causes  which  made  England  a  world  power,  and  empha- 
sizing the  vital  importance  of  her  over-sea  possessions. 
LccAS,  Sir  C.  (e^toT).--Historical  Geography  of  the  British 
Colonies.    The  volumes  relating  to  British  North  America 
will  be  found  crowded  with  useful  detail,  setting  forth 
more  minutely  than  any  other  work  not  only  the  physical 
character  of  the  country,  but  the  origin  and  antecedents 
of  the  early  settlers  of  its  respective  districts. 
Bradley,  A.  G.—The  Fight  with  France  for  North  America, 
A  description  in  one  volume  of  the  war  in  North  America 
(1755-1760),  in  which  the  British,  aided  by  the  forces 
of  the  various  American  colonies,  fought  the  French 
for  supremacy  in  North  America,  and  ultimately,  with 
the    conquest    of    Canada,    expelled    them    from    the 
country. 
Bradley,  A.  G.—The  Making  of  Canada  (1763-1815).     This 
volume  is  a  sequel  to  the  above,  and  describes  the  attempt 
of  the  American  Revolutionists  on  Canada,  the  founding 
of  British  Canada   by   the  refugee  loyalists  from  the 
American  War,  the  political  difficulties  of  government 
in  the  Anglo-French  colony,   and   finally  the   war  of 
1812-15,  in  which  British  and  French  Canadians  succoss- 
fully  defended  Canada  against  the  Americans. 

261 


252 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Pbowse,  Juduk. — History  of  Newfoundland.  One  thick 
volume  profusely  illustrated,  by  a  well-known  New- 
foundlander, telling  the  whole  story  of  this  our  oldest 
colony  in  a  popular  and  interesting  way  from  the  1 6th 
century  to  the  present  day. 

WiLLSOK,  Beckles. — Nova  Scotia.  This  is  the  most  recent 
work  on  the  above  province  by  a  well-known  Canadian 
author  in  one  volume,  and  tells  its  history  with  a  full 
description  of  its  scenery,  industries,  and  present  con- 
dition, in  a  popular  and  attractive  manner. 

Brioe,  6. — Manitoba.  A  history  of  the  province  prior  to 
the  completion  of  the  railroad.  The  author,  a  University 
Professor,  and  well  known  as  a  writer  on  the  North- West, 
has  resided  there  from  early  days  before  the  founding 
of  the  Province  of  Manitoba. 

LlTCAS,  SlE  C. — The  Canadian  War  oj  1812-15.  One  volume. 
Th«  best  and  most  recent  work  on  the  attempt  of  the 
Americans  to  seize  Canada,  and  the  three  years  of  brave 
resistance  offered  by  a  small  force  of  British  troops 
and  Canadian  militia.  This  war,  which  saved  Canada 
to  Great  Britain,  is  practically  shirked  in  most  English 
histories,  and  little  understanding  is  displayed  of  the 
serious  business  it  was.  and  of  the  valour  and  endurance 
displayed  against  great  odds. 

WHiLSON,  Beckles. — The  Great  Company.  2  vols.  A  history 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  which  at  one  time  con- 
trolled the  whole  wild  north  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific. 

Bkgo,  a. — History  of  British  Columbia.     1  vol. 

DoTiiB,  J.  A. — The  English  in  America.    This  work,  in  one 
volume,  describes  the  founding  and  early  history  of  the 
English  colonies  in  North  America  before  the  Revolu 
tionary  War. 

Cambridge  Modem  History,  vol.  vii.    This  volume  daals  with 
the  Amerioan  War  of  Independence  and  the  History  of 
the  U.S.  till  the  present  time. 
Among  Biographies,  those  of  Sir  John  Macdonald  (Pope), 

Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier  (Willison),  Joseph  Howe  (Longley),  deal 

with  these  three  most  interesting  political  personalities  and 

their  times  in  an  intimate  wav. 


Ill 

1  ■'  - 

i 

ll 

i     -  , 

t   ^'  1 
1' 

■'I 

INDEX 


Abercomby,  50,  51 
Abraham,  Heights  of,  69 
Acadia  (see  Nova  Scotia) 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  Treaty  of,  166 
Alabama  Claims,  121 
Alaska,  20 
Albany,  48,  143 
Alberta,  16,  18,  208 
Alleghanies,  36,  39,  42,  48 
Amherst,  Lord,  54,  56,  fi:i,  64 
Appalachian  Range,  10 
Ashburton  Treaty.  28 
Assiniboine  B.,  24 
Athabasca,  24 
Australia,  218 

B 

Beaufort,  Lines  of,  59 
BeUeisle,  27 
Braddock,  Gen.,  42,  43 
British  North  America  Act,  126 
British  Colombia,   19-23,   127, 

131,  194,  213227 
Brock,  Sir  I.  ,93 


Cabots,  The,  27.  161 
California,  129 
Canadian-Pacifio    R.R.,     127. 

131,  224 
Cape  Breton,  27,  163,  178,  179 
Carolinaa,  The,  36 


Carolina,  N.,  176 
Cartier,  Jacques,  133 
Cartier,  Sir  G.,  124 
Champlain,  133,  101 
Champlain,  Lake,  43,  48,  50 
Charles  L,  162 
Charlottetown,  188 
Chateangnay,  95 
Chatham,  Lord,  52-56 
Chinese,  The,  219-222 
Chrystler's  Farm,  95 
Civil  War,  American,  120 
Colbert,  136 
Co"  mbia  R.,  22 
Craig.  Gov.,  89 


Detroit,  93,  142,  168 
Dieppe,  138 
Dinwiddle,  Gov.,  42 
Disraeli,  126 

Dorchester,  Lord,  68,  73,  79 
Doukhobors,  211 
Duquesne,  Ft.,  41,  47.  56 
Durham,  Lord,  113 
Dutch  of  N.  York  157 

E 

Eastern  Townships,  153.  158 
Elgin,  Lord,  116 
Erie,  L.,  25, 40,  91,  93 
Esquimault,  238 
Evangeline,  169 


263 


204 


INDEX 


F 

Family    Compact,    The,    102, 

103,  115 
Five  Nations,  The,   39,   136, 

141,  143,  144,  145 
Forbes,  66 
Fort  William,  25 
Fraser  R.,  22,  227 
Frederick  of  Prussia,  46,  68 
Frederioton,  187 
Frontenao,  Count,  142, 143 
Fundy,  Bay  of,  28 

Q 

Qalicians,  211 

Garry,  Fort,  191,  192,  193 

George  III.,  69,  70 

George,  Lake,  48,  60 

Glengarry,  176 

Grand  Trunk  R.R.,  120,  195 

Grand  Trunk  Pac.  RR.,  223 

Guadaloupe,  65 


Halifax,  26,  73,  167,  170,  172, 

173,  178,  186,  238 
Hamilton,  A.,  128 
Holland,  136 
Howe,  Lord,  63 
Howe,  Joseph,  125,  178,  229, 

230 
Hudson's  Bay,  10,  12,  24,  36, 

127,  190 
Hudson  R.,  48 
Huron,  L.,  25,  142,  191,  196 


Intercolonial  R.R.,  190 
Italians,  311 


Jameg  L,  162 
Japanese,  219 
Jefferson,  81,  128 
Jesuits,  134 
Johnson,  146 

K 

Kingston,  23,  74,  76,  81,  93 

116,  238 
Kirk,  162 


Labrador,  27 

La  SaUe.  142 

Laurentian  Mts.,  10 

Laurier,  Sir  W.,  233,  234.  235 

236 
Levis,  64 
Loire,  The,  160 
Louis  XIV..  136 
Louis  XV.,  40 
Louisburg,   53,   66,    164,    165 

166,  167 

M 

Macdonald,  Sir  J..  96,  124, 126 
228,  229,  230,  231,  233 
234,  236,  240,  244 

Mackenzie,  W.  L.,  106,  107 

Madison,  89 

Maine,  28 

Manitoba,  127,  190-212 

Maritime  Provinces,  The,  160 
189 

Maryland,  35,  42,  43 

Massaohussets,  42,  143 

Mennonites,  211 

Michigan,  32 


INDEX 


255 


Miehillimaekiiuu!,  142 
MicmaoB,  The,  163,  184 
Minnesota,  194 
Mississippi,  37,  135,  142 
Mohawk  B.,  48 
Monokton,  Gen.,  60 
Monk,  Lord,  228 


165,   176,   196,  222,   238, 

243,244,246,246,247,249 
Ontario,  Lake,  25,  32,  33,  73. 

74,75,81,91 
Orleans,  I.  of,  30,  69 
Oswego,  48 

—  Ottawa,  30,  129.  131 

"'"'mX^-.^lS:^'-  ^-  I  O«-«-.30.32.12.,I^.22, 
Montmorency,  69  { 

Montreal,  25,  28,  30,  31,  38,  48,  !  P 

56,  63.  74,  88,  93,  96,  116,      „     . 
133, 140, 143, 146, 191, 194      P»Puieau,  113 
Mount  Stephen,  Lord,  196  ■    Pennsylvania,  34,  42,  43.  82 

Murray,  Gen.,  60,  63  P*»ip8»  ^^ 

I    Pittsburg,  56 
jj  I    Port  Arthur,  25,  196 

„      ,  I    Prairie  Provinces,  190-212 

Napoleon,  89,  90,  95  I    Prevost,  Gov.,  89 

New  Brunswick,  10.  11,  26,  27,  |   Prince  Edward  Island.  10.  27 
28,  29,  99,  119,  125,  160-  '  "°  ""=  "»"  ""«''—'"• 

189 
New  England,  34,  36,  44,  45, 

47,54,91,93,96,141,143, 

165,  166,  167 
Newfoundland,  26,  127 
New  Jersey,  34 


<  -    I 


Il9,125,127,172.'l76,*188 

Q 


New  Ontario,  25 

New  Westminster,  22 

New   York,  34,   48,    71.    74, 

143,  176 
New  Zealand,  218 
Normandy,  138 
Nova  Scotia,  10,  11,  14,  26,  27. 

45,  68,  72,  73.  99,  126,  130, 

143.  160-180 

0 

Oliio,  37,  39,  46 

Ontario,  10,  11,  14,  28,  31.  32, 
33,  76.  77.  79,  82,  83.  84, 
103,   107,   11«,   130,   139, 


Quebec,  10,  11,  28,  29,  30,  31. 
38,  54-64,  73,  77,  78.  79, 
84,  86,  99,  116-120,  130, 
133,  135-140,  144.  145, 
146,  155,  159,  162.  163, 
238,  244,  245,  250 

Queenston  Heights,  93 

R 

Red  River,  15,  24, 142, 159,  193 

Richelieu  R.,  137 

Riel,  193 

Rochelle,  138 

Rocky  Mountains,  16,  17,  18, 
19-23,  194.  196,  198,  207, 
210,  211,  213,  222,  224, 
22ft,  22« 


256 


INDEX 


If 

III  f 


s 


St.  Charlea  B.,  69 

St.  John,  26,  170,  186,  187 

St.  John  B.,  28 

St.  Lawrence  B.,  12,  25-32, 38, 
46,  47,  48,  51,  54-62,  74, 
75,  93,  138,  158,  162   189 

St.  Peter,  L.,  30 

Saskatchewan,  16,  208 

Sault  St.  Marie,  32,  142,  159 

Saunders,  57 

Scandinavians,  211 

Selkirks,  The,  19,  224 

Selkirk,  Lord,  170,  190 

Shirley,  42  , 

Simcoe,  Gov.,  79 

Stirling,  Lord,  162 

Strathcona,  Lord,  196 

Superior,  L.,  9,  12,  26,  32,  142, 
196 

Swiss  Settlers,  231 

Sydney,  186 


Three  Bivers,  134 
Tioonderoga,  60,  63 
Tilly,  Sir  L,  126 
Toronto,  33,  84,  95 


Townshend,  Gen.,  60 
Tupper   Sir  Chas.    125 

U 

Ulster  Emigrants,  76,  77 
Utrocht,  Treaty  of,  166 


Vancouver  I.,  22,  23,  213-219 

227   230 
Vancouver  City,  22,  23    198 

213-219 
V?.wdreuil,  62,  63 
Victoria,  23,  213-219,  227 
Virginia  35,  42,  43   133 

W 

Washington,  George,  41,  43 

Westerham,  57 

Winnipeg,  15, 16  159  194  190 

203,  207 
Winnipeg,  L.,  24 
Wolfe,  Gen.,  56-64,  146 
Wolaeley,  Lord,  143 
Woods,  L.  of  the,  25 


Yukon,  20 


f 


THB  LONDON  AND   NOtWIOH  PRB89    LllUTED    LONDOK  AND  NOEWICH 


Home  University 

Lik**Q*^r      °f  Modern 
IDiary      Knowledge 


Cloth 

1/- 

net 


Jl  Comprehensive  Series  of  New 
and   Specially    Written    ^ooks 


Leather 

2/6 

net 


EDITORS  : 
Prof.  GILBERT  MURRAY.  D.Litt.,  LL.D.,  F.B.A. 
Mr  HERBERT  FISHER,  M.A.,  F.B.A. 
Prof.  J.  ARTHUR  THOMSON,  M.A. 
Prof.  WM.  T.  BREWSTER.  M.A. 


I 'The  highly  ingenious,  attractive,  and  suggestive  series  of 
shilling  books  which  now  makes  its  bow  to  the  public  under  the 
Home  University  Library's  ensign  is  the  symbol,  in  somerespects 
of  a  revival,  in  others  of  a  new  era,  in  bibliology.  In  either  case 
it  is  a  symptom  both  of  health  and  of  hope  in  the  future.  .  .  , 
Each  volume  represents  a  three-hours'  traffic  with  the  Ulking- 
power  of  a  good  brain,  operating  with  the  ease  and  interesting 
freedom  of  a  specialist  dealing  with  his  own  subject  ...  A  series 
which  promises  to  perform  a  real  social  service."— 7"A«  rimes. 

"With  the  growth  of  popular  education  of  all  grades,  it  was 
natural  to  believe  that  there  are  a  very  large  number  of  men  and 
women  of  all  ages  to  whom  such  a  series  as  this  would  be  a  price- 
less boon  and  comfort.  .  .  .  The  immediate  discovery  of  a  large, 
highly  intelligent  public,  with  ideas  and  criticisms  of  its  own,  is  an 
invaluable  reward  to  the  public  spirit  that  has  inspired  this  under- 
taking, and  a  sign  of  great  encoursgement  to  all  who  are  in- 
terested in  the  liberal  education  of  the  State."— rA/  NatioH. 

"  We  can  think  of  no  series  now  being  issued  which  better 
deserves  support."— rA«  Observer. 

"Certainly  no  publishing  enterprise  of  our  time  is  more 
remarkable  or  better  deserving  of  sxxcctss." — Manchester 
Guardian. 

"These  dainty,  vivid  little  books  lend  a  new  attraction  to 
the  acquisition  of  useful  knowledge.  Bright,  spirited,  and 
infallibly  direct  in  their  appeal,  they  -should  prove  a  treasure- 
house  of  inexhaustible  value  to  those  who  are  unable  to  aflFord 
expensive  encyclopedias  and  weighty  scientific  treatises.  For 
here  is  the  world's  learning  in  little,  and  none  too  poor  to  give 
St  house-room  t  "—Daily  Telegraph. 


mam 


m 


History  and  Q^ography 


3.  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION 

By  HiLAiRE  Belloc,  M.A.  (With  Maps.)  "It  is  coloured  with 
all  the  militancy  of  the  author's  temperament."— JPaiVj'  News, 

4.  HISTORY  OF  WAR  AND  PEACE 

By  G.  H.  Pkrris.  The  Rt.  Hon.  James  Bryck  writes:  "1  hate 
read  it  with  much  interest  and  pleasure,  admiring  the  skill  with 
which  you  have  managed  to  compress  so  many  facts  and  views  into 
so  small  a  volume." 

8.   ^QLAR  EXPLORATION 

By  Dr  W.  S.  Bruce,  F.R.S.E,,  Leader  of  the  "Scotia"  Expedition. 
(With  Maps.)  "  A  very  freshly  written  and  interesting  narrative." — 
T/u  Times.     "A  fascinating  hook."— Portsmouth  Times. 

12.  THE  OPENING-UP  OF  AFRICA 

By  Sir  H.  H.  Johnston,  G.C.M.G.,  K.C.B.,  D.Sc,  F.Z.S. 
(With  Maps.)  "  The  Home  University  Library  is  much  enricAed 
by  this  excellentlwork."— /?«»6'  Mail. 

13.  MEDIEVAL  EUROPE 

By  H.  W.  C.  Davis,  M.A.  (With  Maps.)  "  A  good  specimen  of 
the  work  of  the  modern  historian."  —  Christian  tVor/d.  "One 
more  illustration  of  the  fact  that  it  takes  a  complete  master  of  the 
subject  to  write  briefly  upon  it." — Manchester  Guardian. 

14.  THE  PAP  ACT  ^  MODERN  TIMES 

(1303-1870) 

By  the  Rev.  Wm.  Barry,  D.D  "The  Papacy,"  says  the  author 
in  his  preface,  "was  lor  hundreds  of  years  suzerain  over  kings,  and 
the  Holy  Roman  Empire  was  its  armed  defender.  It  is  now  the 
head  of  a  world-wide  voluntary  association  which  wields  no  sword 
but  its  faith.  How  so  remarkable  a  transformation  came  to  pass  and 
what  it  means  politically  is  my  subject." 

23.  HISTORT  OF  OUR  TIME,  1885-1911 

By  G.  P.  GoocH,  M.A.  "  Mr  Gooch  contrives  to  breathe  vitality 
into  his  story,  and  to  give  us  the  flesh  as  well  as  the  bones  of  recent 
happenings. " — Observer. 


I 

it 


25.  THE  CIVILISATION  OF  CHINA 

By  H.  A.  Giles  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Chinese  in  the  University  of 
Cambridge.  "In  all  the  mass  of  facts,  Professor  Giles  never 
becomes  dull.  He  is  always  ready  with  a  ghost  story  or  a  street 
adventure  for  the  reader's  recreation. "-5>r«:/a/tfr. 

29.  THE  DAWN  OF  HISTORT 

ffistorJ'o**/T'..^-J;.^-  f  •^•^-  "^y^^^^^  ^^ofeuor  of  Ancient 

33-  THE  HISTORT  OF  ENGLAND: 

A  Study  in  Political  Evolution. 
university.     With  a  Chronological  Table. 

34    CANADA 

lL\  ^'  ^""1°'-^'  '^"'''°'  "'  "'^'«  Making  of  Canada,"  etc 
e^i^io^of"  lii:.  ^°°""*°"  '~"«'^'  ''°-  -  ">«  —  °^  i« 

37-  PEOPLES  &  PROBLEMS  OF  INDIA 

sLf!!-  ^'  "^A  "°'-°='"'='^«-  K.C.S.I.,  Secretary  of  the  Revenue. 
Sut«ucs,  and  Commerce  Department  of  the  India  Office. 

42.  ROME 

In  Preparation 


By  Prof.  Gilbert  Murray,  D.Litt. 


ANCIENT  GREECE. 
LL.D.,  F.B.A. 

ANCIENT  EGYPT.     By  Dr  F.  L.  Griffith,  M.A.,  F  R  S 

r^^  REPORMA  TION     By  Principal  Lindsay,  LL.D. 

f^?^^      ^^^^^^      Bv  n.  G.  HocA»T„.  M.A. 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  CITIES.    By  Prof.  Patrick  G.nD.5. 


I'ti 


If 


til 


\i 


Literature  and  ^rt 


2.  SHAKESPEARE 

By  John  Maskfield.  "  The  book  is  a  joy.  We  have  had  half-a- 
dozen  more  learned  books  on  Shakespeare  in  the  last  few  yean,  but 
not  one  so  wise." — Manchester  Guardian. 

27.  ENGLISH  LITERATURE:  MODERN 

By  G.  H.  Maih,  M.A.  "  Altogether  a  fresh  and  individual  book." 
— Oittrvtr. 

35.  LANDMARKS  IN  FRENCH 
LITERATURE 

By  G.  L.  Strachey. 

39.  ARCHITECTURE 

By  Prof.  W.  R.  Lbthaby.    With  over  forty  Illustrations. 

Ik  Preparation 

ENGLISH  LITERA  TVREi  MEDIMVAL.    By  Prof.  W.  P. 

Ker,  M.A. 
ANCIENT  AR  T  AND  RITUAL.    By  Miss  Jane  Hakkison, 

LL.D.,  D.Litt. 
THE  RENAISSANCE.    By  Mrs  R.  A.  Taylor. 
ITALIAN  ART  OF  THE  RENAISSANCE.    By  Roger  E. 

Fry,  M.A. 
THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE.    By  L.  Pearsall  Cmith,  M.A. 
ENGLISH  COMPOSITION.    By  Prof.  Wm.  T.  Brewster. 
GREA  T  WRITERS  OF  AMERICA.    By  Prof.  W.  P.  Trent 

and  Prof.  J.  Erskine. 
GREAT   WRITERS  OF  RUSSIA.      By   C.   T.    Hagbero 

Wright,  LL.D. 
THE   LITERATURE    OF  GERMANY.      By   Prof.   J.   G. 

Robertson,  M.A.,  Ph.D. 


1 


Philosophy  and  "Religion  j 


15.  MOHAMMEDANISM 


By  Prof.  D.  S.  MARCioi.iouTH,  M.A,  D.Litt.  "This  generous 
shilling's  worth  of  wisdom.  ...  A  delicate,  humorous,  and  most 
responsible  tracUte  by  an  illizminative  professor."— Z?«»V>  Mail. 


40.  THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PHILOSOPHY 


By  the  Hon.  Bsxtrand  Russkll,  F.R.S. 

In  Preparation 


THE  OLD  TESTAMENT.    By  Prof.  George  Mooee,  D.D., 

LL.D. 
BETWEEN  THE  OLD  AND  NEW  TESTAMENTS.    By 

R.  H.  Charles,  D.D. 
THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEH^  TESTAMENT.    By  Prof. 

B.  W.  Bacon,  Litt.D.,  D.D. 
COMPARA  TIVE  RELIGION.  By  Prof.  J.  Estlin  Cakfkmtbk, 

D.Litt. 
A  HISTORY  OF  FREEDOM  OF  THOUGHT.     By  Prot 

J.  B.  BuRv,  LL.D. 
ETHICS.    By  G.  E.  Mooke. 
BUDDHISM.    By  Mrs  Rhys  Davids,  M.A. 
NONCONFORMITY  AND  THE  FREE  CHURCHES.    By 

Principal  Selbib,  M.A. 


7.  MODERN  GEOGRAPHY 

By  Dr  Marion  Newbicik.  (inu:>trated.)  "  Geography,  again  : 
what  a  dull,  tedious  study  that  was  wont  to  be !  .  .  .  But  Miss 
Marion  Newbigin  invests  its  dry  bones  with  the  flesh  and  blood 
of  romantic  interest,  taking  stock  of  geology  as  a  fairy-book  of 
science." — Daily  Ttltgraph. 

9.  THE   EFOLUTION   OF  PLANTS 

By  Dr  D.  K  Scott,  M.A.,  F.R.S.,  late  Hon.  Keeper  of  the 
Jodrell  Laboratory,  Kew.  (Fully  illustrated.)  "The  informa- 
tion which  the  book  provides  is  as  trustworthy  a  first-hand  know- 
ledge can  make  it.  .  .  .  Dr  Scott's  candid  and  familiar  style  makes 
the  diflRcult  subject  both  fascinating^  and  easy."  —  Gardtturs' 
Chronicle. 

17.  HEALTH  AND   DISEASE 

By  W.  Leslie  Mackenzie,  M.D.,  Local  Government  Board, 
Edinburgh.  "The  science  of  public  health  administration  has 
had  no  abler  or  more  attractive  exponent  than  Dr  Mackenzie. 
He  adds  to  a  thorough  grasp  of  the  problems  an  illuminating 
style,  and  an  arresting  manner  of  treating  a  subject  often  dull 
and  sometimes  unsavoury."— ^'r^xomw/. 

5 


iV^ 


i8.  INTRODUCTION  to  MATHEMATICS 

By  A.  N.  Whiteh«au,  Sc.D,  F.R.S.  (With  Diagrams.)  "Mr 
Whitehead  has  discharged  with  conspicuous  success  the  task  he 
is  so  exceptionally  qualified  to  undertake.  For  he  is  one  of  our 
great  authorities  upon  the  foundations  of  the  science,  and  has 
the  breadth  of  view  which  is  so  requisite  in  presenting  to  the 
reader  its  aims.  His  exposition  is  clear  and  striking."— W**/- 
minster  GautU. 

19.  THE   ANIMAL   IVORLD 

By  Professor  F.  W.  Gamble,  D.Sc.,  F.R.S.  (Many  Illustrations.) 
"  For  the  thoughtful  and  philosophically  minded  student  at  the 
present  day,"  says  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  in  his  Introduction  to  this 
volume,  "such  a  book  is  most  timely  aod  helpful.  ...  I  am  glad 
to  have  the  opportunity  of  commending  the  series  to  that  increasing 
number  of  readers  who  are  hungry  for  trustworthy  and  assimilable 
informatioa." 

20.  EVOLUTION 

By  Professor  J.  Arthur  Th3mson,  M.A.,  and  Professor  Patrick 
Geddbs.  This  volume,  which,  as  the  Manchesttr  Guardian 
says,  "is  in  its  survey  tht  most  comprehensive  of  those  devoted 
to  Science,  and  is  in  a  sense  the  key  to  them  all,"  summarises  the 
facts  of  Variation  and  Heredity,  .Selection,  Function,  and  Environ- 
ment, and  the  chief  Evolution  theories,  and  concludes  with  an 
important  "re-interpretation"  of  the  development  process. 

22.  CRIME   AND  INSANITT 

By  Dr  C.  A.  Mercier,  F.R.C.P.,  F.R.C.S.,  Author  of  "Text- 
Book  of  Insanity,"  etc.  "Furnishes  much  valuable  information 
from  one  occupying  the  highest  position  among  medico-legal 
psychologists."— i4jr>'/»m  News. 

28.  PSrCHICAL   RESEARCH 

By  W.  F.  Barrett,  F.R.S.,  Professor  of  Physics,  Royal  College 
of  Science,  Dublin,  1873-1910.  "As  a  former  President  of  the 
Psychical  Research  Society,  he  is  familiar  with  all  the  developments 
of  this  most  fascinating  branch  of  science,  and  thus  what  he  has  to 
say  on  thought-reading,  hypnotism,  telepathy,  crystal-vision,  spirit- 
ualism, divinings,  and  so  on,  will  be  read  with  avidity." — hundee 
Courier. 


31.  ASTRONOMY 


By  A.  R.  HiNKs,  M.A„  Chief  Assistant,  Cambridge  Obsen.'atory. 
"Original  in  thought,  eclectic  in  substance,  and  critical  in  treat- 
ment.  .  .  .  No  better  little  book  is  available.  "—5c/i«o/;K0riUl 

6 


32.  INTRODUCTION   TO  SCIENCE 

By  J.  Arthur  Thomson,  M.A.,  Regiui  Professor  of  Natural 
History,  Aberdeen  University.  "  For  those  who  have  not  yet 
become  possessed  of  the  Library,  this  would  form  an  appropriate 
introduction.  Professor  Thomson's  delightful  literary  style  is  wjll 
known  ;  and  here  he  discourses  freshlv  and  easily  on  the  methods  of 
science  and  its  relations  with  philosophy,  art,  religion,  and  practical 
life. " — A  berd**H  Journal. 

36.  CLIMATE   AND   WEATHER 

By  H.  N.  Dickson,  D.Sc.Oxon.,  M.A.,  F.R.S.E.,  President  •f 
the  Royal  Meteorological  Society ;  Professor  of  Geography  in 
University  College,  Reading.    (With  Diagrams.) 

41.  ANTHROPOLOGY 

By_R.  R.  Marett,  M.A.,  Reader  in  Social  Anthropology  in  Oxford 


Jniversity. 


In  Preparation 


ELECTRICITY.     By  Dr  Giseert  Kapp. 

MATTER  AND  ENERGY.     By  F.  "onov,  M.A..  F.R.S. 

CHEMISTRY.    Py  Prof.  R.  Meldola,  F.r!s. 

THE  MAKING  OF  THE  EARTH.    By  Prof.  J.  W.  Gregory, 

THE^Mi'nERAL  lYORLD.    By  Sir  T.  H.  Holland.  K.C.I.E.. 

PRINCIPLES  OF  PHYSIOLOGY.       By    Prof.    J.    G. 

McKendrick. 
THE  HUMAN  BODY.    By  Dr  A.  Keith,  M.D.,  F.R.C.S. 
PSYCHOLOGY.    By  Prof.  Wm.  McDougaLl,  M.A. 
PLANT  LIFE.    By  Prof.  J.  B.  Farmer,  F.R.S. 


Social  Science 


I.  PARLIAMENT 

Its  History,  Constitution,  and  Practice.  By  Sir  Courtenay  P. 
ILBERT,  K.C.B  K  C.S.I.,  Clerk  of  the  House^f  Commons  "The 
Dest  b.x)k  on  the  history  and  practice  of  the  House  of  Commons 
since  Bagehofs  'Constitution."  "—Yorkshire  Post.  ^""""°™ 

5;  THE  STOCK  EXCHANGE 

By  F.  W.  Hirst,  Editor  of  "The  Economist."  "A  little  treatise 
wnich  to  an  unfinancial  mind  must  be  a  revelation.  .  .  .  The  book 
"»f*k  u  '  ^go""""".  and  sane  as  Bagehot's  'Lombard  Street,"  than 
wnich  there  is  no  higher  compliment."— ;lA>r>i»«^  Ltadtr. 

6.  IRISH  NATIONALITY 

iulS'h,  ^■„'^-.^"'T''v^-    A' A;  ?'"*'"g  «  !t  »  l«rned.    No  book 

SS^Ifi     Tj'  '"""^'y-  T'^*"'''  -V«..j.    "A  powerful  study A 

ma^ificent  demonstration  of  the  deserved  vitality  of  the  Gaelic 
spirit.  — rrttntan  s  Journal. 

7 


10.  THE  SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT 

By  J.  Ramsav  MacDonald,  M.P.  "Admirably  adapted  for  th« 
purpose  of  exposition/'- y*/  TimtM.  "  Mr  MacDonJd  U  a  verj 
Iuc.d  exponent.  .  The  volume  will  be  of  great  uie  in  dUwlU^ 
ivS'  tendencies  of  Socialiw,  ,^  thUT^tiy/CTvg 

i6.  r//£  SCIENCE  OF  frEALTH 

^y  A.  HossoN,  M.A.  "Mr  J.  A.  Hohwn  holds  an  tmioue 
position  amon^  l.vmg  econon,ists.  ...  The  text-book  pr^u<^1^ 
)f^^l     admirable.   Original,  reasonable,  and  iUuminat^^  W4J 

21.  LIBERALISM 

o%i"°""A°'^^k''of^;;;;%^Si;y°''*"*«^^ 

|rai«  for  the  rapiS  ^'iS"ly^:;Sm^;i;,-o?^'he'i;^"^*„'^fr'^^^^ 
^pnnciple,  which  form  a  large  part  of  th«  book."  JS^^^.vIJr?" 

2'4.  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  IN  DUST RT 

.^^t'?"'  .'^'*CGRkgor,  M.A.,  Professor  of  Political  Economy  in 

30.  ELEMENTS  OF  ENGLISH  LAIV 

Kt  Oifofd'^^-r^*?-^'  ^•^■^-  y*"'"*"  Professor  of  English 
JLaw  at  Uxford.  Contains  a  very  clear  account  of  the  elemenUrr 
principles  underlying  the  rules  of  English  law,  and  we^n Tec^^'^ 
mend  it  to  a  1  who  wish  to  become  acquainted  with  these  elemenu^ 
principles  with  a  minimum  of  trouble>-5«/x  Lmu  Thnti^^ 

38.  THE  SCHOOL 

An  Introduction  to  The  Study  of  Edueation 
Suiie/terUnTv^^^sitV.'*-^-    ^'•■^-  ^^^^^  o^  Education  i. 

In  Preparation 

%7lCuliuR~F-  n^yLordHuGHCKcir:M.A.,M.P.  (Vol.ix.) 
ENGLISH  VILLAGE  LIFE.     By  E.  N.  B.nnett.  M.A. 

London:    WILLIAMS   AND   NORGATE 

And  of  all  Bookshops  and  Bookstails, 
8 


for  tht 
a  very 
pelling 
'—Tk4 


unique 
icea  ia 
-Tk* 


rentty 

iR  but 
I  from 
intter 


ny  in 
I  may 
it."- 


iglish 
ntary 
icom- 
itary 


II.) 
) 

1.  J. 

:.L. 


fi 
i'i".-i 


% 


